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AUGUSTIN PAUL KIRSCH 



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Christianity 



OR 



Why I Became a 
Non-Sectarian 



BY 

AUGUSTIN PAUL KIRSCH 

Stayton, Ore. 



Cincinnati, O. 
THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1913 






Copyright y 1913 
Augustin Paul Kirsch 






^ ©CI.A350129 



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CONTENTS 

Page 
Introduction v 

CHAPTER L 
The Authority of the Bible 7 

CHAPTER n. 
Commands 15 

CHAPTER HI. 
False Impressions and Misrepresentations 20 

CHAPTER IV. 
False Prophets 28 

CHAPTER V, 
Who Are Disciples of Christ ? 32 

CHAPTER VL 
The Bread of Life 39 

CHAPTER VII. 
Repentance, Forgiveness of Sins and Sacrifice 43 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Images 50 

CHAPTER IX. 
To Priests and Prelates 57 

CHAPTER X. 
The Situation Discussed 68 



iii 



INTRODUCTION 



I wish to show in a few chapters the inconsistencies 
in sectarianism. All I ask is : Give this your earnest, im- 
partial consideration, and form your own conclusions. 
Note well that I am trying to lead you to the word of 
God, and nowhere else, and if I state anything contrary 
to the Scriptures, or sound sense, reject it as fast as you 
can; but as I am addressing Catholics in particular, I 
will quote exclusively from the Catholic Bible, and as 
the Catholics are the most ill read in the Scriptures, it 
will be necessary to quote Scripture at length, but will 
curtail it as much as possible, quoting verses and parts 
of verses as needed for said argument. I was born and 
raised a Catholic, and have belonged to that creed imtil 
past middle life; have two sisters in the convent; two 
first cousins who are priests, and my wife has several 
cousins who are priests and nuns. I have raised a family 
of eleven children. I have had some experience in life 
and also in sectarianism. 

You will ask me what claim I have as to being an in- 
spired writer. I will refer you to i Cor. i : 2y, 28: "But 
the foolish things of the world hath God chosen that 
he may confound the wise: and the weak things of the 
world hath God chosen that he may confound the strong; 
and the mean things of the world and the things that 
are contemptible hath God chosen, and the things that 
are not, that he might destroy the things that are." The 
reason given is that no flesh may glory but in the glory 
of the Lord. So I feel competent, God helping me, to 



vi INTRODUCTION 

define a few things at controversy. But, kind reader, 
know one thing: There is but one truth which proceeds 
from God, and we must accept it wherever we find it. 
There is no CathoHc or Protestant truth whatever. So 
with the he ; it is the product of Satan wherever we find 
it. Bear this in mind now and ahvays, if you wish to 
advance. **A corrupt man loveth not one that reproves 
him, nor will he go to the wise'' (Prov. 15: 12). "He 
that turneth away his ears from hearing the law, his 
prayers shall be an abomination*' (Prov. 28:9). In the 
last verse Peter wrote he exhorts the faithful to increase 
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
Scores of such passages could be cited, but this goes to 
prove that we are commanded to instruct ourselves. It 
is a sacred duty. We read in Matt. 13:52: "He said 
unto them. Therefore every scribe instructed in the king- 
dom of heaven is like to a master of a house, who 
bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old." 
Now, this I will try to do, and also show some old things 
that were misrepresented. I wish also to show the har- 
mony of the Scriptures and the doctrine of Jesus Christ. 
I am aware of the crying need of a work like this, as 
there are so many skeptics concerning the Holy Scrip- 
tures, especially among Catholics. I find them among 
my own kindred, among my wife's kindred, and on every 
hand. The Scriptures do harmonize, if understood. Cer- 
tain passages do not contradict each other, as some claim. 
Some things are a little hard to understand, but I have 
had no occasion to doubt or reject the Scripture, and if 
you will follow me I will try as best I can to show in 
the following chapters why I became a non-sectarian. 



Christianity; or^ Why I Be- 
came a Non-Sectarian 



CHAPTER I. 



The Authority of the Bible — No Tampering or 
Meddling Allowed with the Scriptures. 

In the following references to the Holy Scriptures, 
on which Christianity as well as Judaism is based, I will 
show that the Scriptures are the supreme authority in 
faith, morals and equity attested by Moses, the prophets, 
our Lx)rd Jesus and the apostles. In Deut. 4:2 we 
read: "You shall not add to the words that I speak to 
you, neither shall you take away from it. Keep the 
commandments of the Lord your God which I command 
you/' "And the Lx^rd gave me two tables of stone writ- 
ten with the finger of God and containing all the words 
that he spoke to you from the mountain'' (Deut. 9: 10). 
"He read all the law, every word of it, to all the people" 
(Josh. 8:34, 35). "By what does a young man correct 
his ways? By observing thy words" (Ps. 118:9). In 
verse 98 of the same Psalm the royal prophet says: 
"Through thy commandments thou hast made me wiser 
than my enemies." In verse 105 : "Thy word is a lamp 
to my feet and a light to my path." In Ps. 145 : 2, 3 : 
"Put not your trust in princes, in the children of men in 
whom there is no salvation." When warning the people 
of false diviners, Isaiah (8:20) says: "To the law 
rather and to the testimony, and if they speak not ac- 



8 CHRISTIANITY ; OR, 

cording to this word they shall not have the morning 
light" In Jeremiah (1:12) the Lord assures us that 
he will watch over his word to perform it. "And the 
Lord said, Because they have forsaken my law which I 
gave them, and have not heard my voice, and have not 
walked in it, but have gone after the perverseness of 
their own heart and after Baalim'^ (Jer. 9:13, 14). 
Here we see that we are not allowed to depart from 
the law of God, no matter who teaches it. *'This is the 
book of the commandments of God and the law that is 
forever; all they that keep it shall come to Hfe, but they 
who have forsaken it, to death. Return, O Jacob, and 
take hold of it. Walk in the way by its brightness in the 
presence of the light thereof" (Baruch 4: i and 4). "But 
unto you that fear my name the sun of justice arises, and 
health. . . . Remember the law of Moses, my servant, 
which I commanded him" (Mai. 4:2, 4). 

Now I will show you that the same rule holds good 
in the New Testament. In Matt. 4:3-11 we read of the 
temptation of our Lord. Will you please note how he 
answered on each of the three assaults? First: "It is 
written. Not by bread alone does man live, but by every 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Second 
assault: "It is written again. Thou shalt not tempt the 
Lord thy God." Third assault: "Begone, Satan, for it 
is written. The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him 
only shalt thou serve." What strikes me most forcibly 
in the temptation of our Lord is the means he uses to 
defend himself: "It is written" (contained in the Scrip- 
tures). When civil governments train young men for 
soldiers and generals, they invariably teach them how the 
great heroes of their own country and of the world were 
armed, and how they gained victories. Paul tells us what 
the armor of God is in 2 Eph. 6: 14-17, where he calls 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN « 

the word of God the sword of the Spirit, and in the 
temptation of our Lord we see how he used it. Jesus 
was not ignorant of the Scriptures, and, being Captain 
of our salvation and the first conqueror of the enemy 
Death, and Satan, we should not hesitate to follow his 
example. Listen to our Lord again: "And in vain do 
they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments 
of men" (Matt. 15:9). And in Matt 26:54 our Lord 
says : '*How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that so 
it must be done?" There is nothing uncertain about the 
Scriptures. In Mark 7:6-13 we find Jesus again de- 
nouncing the doctrines of men. And in Mark 7 : 6-8, he 
says : '*Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites ; as it 
is written. This people honoreth me with their lips, but 
their heart is far from me ; and in vain do they worship 
me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men. For leaving 
the commandments of God, you hold the traditions of 
men." Could Christ have used stronger language ? What 
food for thought for all creeds who have tampered with 
God's law ! In Luke 6 : 3 we hear Christ answer his 
critics again, saying: "Have you not read so much as 
what David did?" "And why call ye me. Lord, Lord, 
and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). In 
John 8:25, when asked who he was, Christ said: "The 
beginning which also spoke to you." When Dives, the 
rich man (Luke 16: 29), asked Abraham to send Lazarus 
to his father's house to save them from that place of 
torment where he had landed, Abraham answered : "They 
have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." If 
the Scripture was not the standard of salvation, why did 
not Abraham refer the brethren of Dives to some other 
source? Abraham had died over four hundred years 
before the advent of Moses, and the prophets were still 
later; yet Abraham knew of Moses and the prophets. 



10 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

Another striking fact is, that Moses and the prophets 
had all been dead for several hundred years, save John 
the Baptist. When Christ then referred his hearers to 
Moses and the prophets, where could they find them, 
save in the Scriptures? Christ criticised his disciples 
with these words: "O fooHsh and slow of heart to be- 
lieve in the things which the prophets have spoken; 
and beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he ex- 
pounded to them in all the scriptures the things that were 
concerning him'' (Luke 24:25, 2y), "Search the scrip- 
tures, for you think in them to have life everlasting, and 
the same are they who give testimony of me'' (John 
5- 39)- *'For if you did believe Moses, you would per- 
haps believe me also, for he wrote of me ; but if you do 
not believe his writings, how will you believe my words ?" 
(John 5 : 46, 47). We see by these words that Christ did 
not even expect those to believe or hear him who failed 
to accept the writings of Moses and the prophets. Can 
we expect any one to be saved now who rejects Moses 
and the prophets, and the writings of the apostles as 
well? Why did the apostles write? Listen to John 20: 
30, 31 : "Many other signs also did Jesus in the sight of 
his disciples which are not written in this book; but 
these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may 
have life in his name,'* "When prophecies shall fail, the 
prophets shall be scattered abroad; but he that keepeth 
the law is blessed" (Prov. 30:5, 6). Every word of 
Cod is fire-tried. He is a buckler to them that hope in 
him. "Add not anything to his words lest thou be re- 
proved and found a liar." To prove that the pious Jews 
reverenced the law and the prophets, we note Acts 15:21: 
^Tor Moses from ancient times hath in every city them 
that preach him in the synagogues, where he is read 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 11 

every sabbath/' (Cf. also Acts 18:15.) In Rom. 10: 
2, 3, 8 Paul says to the orthodox Jews : "For I bear them 
witness that they have a zeal of God, but not according 
to knowledge. For they, not knowing the justice of God 
and seeking to establish their own, have not submitted 
themselves to the justice of God. . . . But what says 
the scripture? The word is nearer thee, even in thy 
mouth and in thy heart : this is the word of faith which 
we preach." The evangelist Luke says of the Beroeans 
(Acts 17: 11) that they were more noble, searching the 
Scriptures daily to see if what Paul taught was true, of 
according to the Scriptures. In Acts 19: 11, 12 we are 
told: ''And God wrought by the hand of Paul more than 
common miracles, so that there were brought from his 
body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons, and the dis- 
eases departed from them and the unclean spirits went 
out of them." Luke credited the Beroeans as being noble> 
because they compared Paul's doctrine with the Scrip- 
tures, in spite of his great miracles. Where, then, is 
there any credit to those who will accept anything a 
preacher, priest or pope says, when we have the addi- 
tional warning of Paul (Gal. 1:8): "Though we or an 
angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that 
which we have preached to you, let him be anathema"? 
Again: "For we write no other thing to you than what 
you have read and know" (2 Cor. i: 13). Hear Paul 
once more : "Or did the word of God come out from you, 
or came it only unto you? If any man seem to be a 
prophet or spiritual, let him know the things that I write 
to you that they are the commandments of the Lord" (i 
Cor. 14:36, 37). In Rom. 15:4 Paul tells us why the 
Scripture was written, saying : "What things soever were 
written, were written for our instruction, that through 
patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have 



12 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

hope." Also in i Thess. 5 : 27 : "I charge you by the Lord, 
that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren/* Again: 
"For we are not as many, adulterating the word of God" 
(2 Cor. 2: 17). According to the above statements, in 
the epistles of the apostles, is to be found the pure doc- 
trine of Christ; and the very fact that he authorized the 
apostles to write, is evidence that he expects us to read 
these writings. And Paul says again (Eph. 3:3, 4): 
"As I have written above in brief, as you, reading, may 
understand." "Therefore, brethren, stand firm and hold 
the traditions which you have learned, whether by \w3rd 
or by our epistle" (2 Thess. 2: 14). Here is one place 
where tradition is favorably mentioned, but the Ameri- 
can Standard Version reads (verse 15) : "Whether by 
word or epistle of ours." In Col. 2 : 4-8 the apostle 
warns the faithful again: "Now this I say, that no man 
may deceive you by loftiness of words. Beware lest any 
man impose upon you by philosophy and vain fallacy, 
according to the traditions of men'' Listen, also, to 
what Paul says about the Scripture to Timothy, his co- 
laborer in the gospel: "And because from thy infancy 
thou hast known the holy scriptures, which can instruct 
thee unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ 
Jesus. All scripture divinely inspired is profitable to 
teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that 
the man of God may be perfectly furnished unto every 
good work" (2 Tim. 3: 15-17). "If then you fulfil the 
royal law, according to the scriptures. Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself, you do well: but if you have 
respect to persons, you commit sin" (Jas. 2:8, 9). In 
I Pet, 1 : 6 reference is made to the Scripture again, and 
in I Pet. 1 : 5-20: "And you, giving all diligence, join with 
your faith virtue; . . . knowledge; . . . abstinence; . . . 
patience; . . . piety; . . . brotherly love; . . . charity. 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 13 

For if these things be with you and abound, they will 
make you to be neither empty nor unfruitful in the 
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, For he that hath 
not these things with him is blind and groping. . . . And 
I will endeavor that you frequently have after my de- 
cease whereby you may keep a memory of these things. 
. i . And we have the surer word of prophecy, to which 
you do well to attend, as to a light shining in a dark 
place until the day dawn and the morning star rise in 
your hearts.'' Now, Peter might have referred us to his 
successor, or to the general council, but the very fact 
that he did not should be sufficient for us. There is a 
warning in i John 2 : 26 : 'These things have I written 
unto you concerning them that seduce you." He is 
making it so plain that it will be impossible for any other 
doctors to seduce any, if they will only carefully and 
prayerfully study them. This is the very reason that 
those who seduce us do not want us to study the Scrip- 
tures. In the Apocalypse (1:3) it says: ^'Blessed is he 
that readeth and heareth the words of this prophecy, and 
keepeth the things written in it." Again, in Apoc. 22 : 8, 
9, when John fell down before the angel to worship, the 
angel suffered him not, and said: "See thou do it not, 
for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the 
prophets, and of them who keep the word of the prophecy 
of this book. Adore God." According to the angel's 
testimony, we become their fellow-servants and brethren, 
as also of the holy apostles and prophets, by keeping the 
words of the Scripture. In verses 18, 19: 'Tf any man 
shall add to these things, God shall add upon him the 
plagues written in this book; and if any man shall take 
away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God 
shall take his part out of the Book of Life, and out of 
the Holy City, and from the things written in this book." 



14 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

Concerning the Ethiopian eunuch, a foreigner, spoken of 
in the eighth chapter of Acts, verse 28 says: "And he 
was returning sitting in his chariot, and reading Isaias 
the prophet. And the Spirit said to Philip [the apostle], 
Go near and join thyself to the chariot. Then Philip 
said, Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou 
readest ? He said, How can I unless some one show me ? 
And Philip, opening his mouth and beginning at that 
scripture, preached to him Jesus, and shortly baptized 
him." Now, kind reader, ask yourself, your priest or 
prelate, why the eunuch read the Scripture, if he did not 
understand it; ask also if you believe that the evangeUst 
Philip would have been sent to him by the angel to ex- 
plain the Scripture, had he been reading a novel or a 
Catholic story; and how was it that this foreigner had 
a copy of the Scriptures, as we are told that copies were 
scarce in those days. The eunuch was reading a passage 
which he confessed he did not understand: the wonder 
is that he did not wrest it to his perdition. It seems to 
me that this should clear the mind of any person who i^ 
skeptical of the Scriptures. It appears here again that 
the children of God relish the things of God, while the 
children of the world do not relish them. 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 15 



CHAPTER 11. 

Commands, 

"Keep therefore and do the things which the Lord 
God has commanded you: you shall not go aside to the 
right hand, neither to the left. But you shall walk 
in the way that the Lord your God hath commanded" 
(Deut 5:32, 33). "Take heed and beware lest at any 
time thou forget the Lord thy God and neglect his com- 
mandments" (Deut. 8:11). "Lay up these my words 
in your hearts and minds, and hang them for a sign on 
your hands, and place them between your eyes; teach 
your children that they meditate on them, when thou sit- 
test in the house, and when thou walkest on the way, 
and when thou liest down and risest up ; thou shalt write 
them upon the posts and doors of thy houses" (Deut. 
1 1 : 18-20) . And concerning false teachers or prophets 
who depart from the law of God we read: "Thou shalt 
not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the 
Lord your God trieth you that it may appear whether 
you love him with all your heart, and with all your soul, 
or not. Follow the Lord your God, and fear him and 
keep his commandments, and hear his voice; him shall 
you serve and to him shall you cleave" (Deut. 13: 3, 4). 
And again in Deut. 29: 14, 15: "Neither with you only 
do I make this covenant and confirm this oath, but with 
all that are present and that are absent." Now, when 
Eliseus the prophet, by the word of God, healed Naaman 
of leprosy, he commanded him to wash seven times in the 
Jordan, as we see by turning to 4 Kings 5 : 10. Any 
one who believes the Scripture will not believe that Naa- 
man would have been healed had he tried a substitute, 



16 CHRISTIANITY ; OR, 

or a more convenient stream, or anything else. This, I 
think, should warn us not to leave the Scriptural stream 
at any price. 

When our Lord was asked what was the first com- 
mandment, he said: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, 
and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. 
This is the first commandment, and the second is like to 
it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is 
no other commandment greater than these'' (Mark 12: 
30, 31). Are these the greatest commandments in your 
sectarian creeds? Recently I read in a Catholic paper 
called the Christian Family where a Catholic complained 
in the query column of being excommunicated for re- 
fusing to call the priest 'Tather" and the Pope "Holy 
Father,'' because the Scripture says, "Call no man father 
on earth;" and the priest, answering the inquiry, sus- 
tained the former ruling on the ground of obstinacy and 
, disobedience to the church. Shame on such rot ! Are 
man-made laws and titles higher than those of God? 
But does that very creed excommunicate any one for be- 
ing a drunkard, fornicator, liar, or for being deceitful 
and so on? They will say, "Yes, in some cases;" but 
they are extreme cases only. In Luke 12:4, 5 Christ 
warns all his followers not to fear "them that kill the 
body and after that have no more that they can do. 
But I will show you whom ye shall fear: Fear ye him 
who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell ; yea, 
I say to you, Fear him." In John 7 : 24 Christ com- 
mands us to "judge not according to the appearance, but 
to judge a just judgment." "Owe no man anything but 
to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has 
fulfilled the law" (Rom. 13:8). In Gal. 5:6-14 Paul 
tells us that "neither circumcision nor uncircumcision 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 17 

availeth anything, but faith that worketh by charity ; and 
that all the law was fulfilled in one word, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself/' In i Thess. 5:21 we are 
commanded to "prove [test — examine] all things; hold 
that which is good/' i Pet. 3 : 8, 9 says : ''And finally, 
be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, 
loving the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble. Not 
rendering evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but, on 
the contrary, blessing; for unto this are ye called, that 
ye may inherit a blessing." Now, all this is impossible 
in sectarianism, where they anathematize each other. 
But some say: ''Paul anathematized heretics.'' Yes, for 
instance, in Gal. i : 8, 9, but it was not for difference of 
opinion, but for teaching a doctrine contrary to the apos- 
tles and to the Scriptures. In Romans 14 Paul tells us : 
*'Now him that is weak in faith, take unto you, not in 
disputes about thoughts. For one believeth that he may 
eat all things, but he that is weak, let him eat herbs. Let 
not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and he 
that eateth not, let him not judge him that eateth. . . , 
But why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou 
despise thy brother, for we shall all stand before the 
judgment-seat of God? . . . Let us not therefore judge 
one another any more, but judge this rather, that you 
put not a stumbling-block or a scandal in your brother's 
way. ... It is good not to eat flesh or to drink wine, nor 
anything whereby thy brother is offended or scandalized 
or made weak." "Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark 
them who cause dissensions and offense contrary to the 
doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For 
they that are such serve not Christ, our Lord, but their 
own belly; and by pleasing speeches and good words 
seduce the hearts of the innocent" (Rom. 16:17, 18). 
We see by this that Paul warns us against those who 



18 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

judge and condemn their brethren, and speak against 
the weak, or those who differ in opinion. We find also 
in I Cor. 1:11-13, also in chap. 2:3-5: 'Tor whereas 
there is among you envying and contention, are you not 
carnal and walk according to man ? For while one saith, 
I, indeed, am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are 
you not men ? What then is Apollos, and what is Paul ? 
The minister of whom you have believed.'' In 2 Cor. 
10 : 7 is* food for thought for all sectarians, for Paul 
says: "If any man trust to himself, that he is Christ's, 
let him think this again within himself; that as he is 
Christ's, so are we also." 

In Matt. 7 : 7 our Lord tells us to ask, and you shall 
receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be 
opened to you." Jas. i : 5 tells us where to ask ; in 
verses 6 and 7 he tells us how to ask; also in John 14: 
13, 14. In I John 5:14: "Whatsoever we ask according 
to his will he hears us ;" and i John 3 : 22 : "And what 
we ask we shall receive of him, because we keep his 
commandments." In Matt. 7:9, 10: "Or what man is 
there among you of whom if his son shall ask bread, will 
he reach him a stone, or if he shall ask a fish, will he 
reach him a serpent?" And Jas. 4:3 tells us why we 
are not heard : "You ask and receive not because you ask 
amiss, that you may consume it on your concupiscence." 
Matt. 7: 16 and Luke 6:44 tell us where to seek. "Do 
men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" Matt. 
6:33 t^lls us what to seek: "Seek first the kingdom of 
heaven and its justice." Acts 12:16 tells us how to 
knock. Now, the moral is that we must expect to get 
what we ask. If we ask and seek perishable goods and 
pleasures, how can we expect to receive the imperishable 
and eternal? We must seek consistently; that is, where 
we can expect to find. Or seek we Christ, the Holy 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 19 

Spirit or the gospel in the devil's Bible — ^novels and 
stories! Or should we not rather follow the spiritual 
footprints and trail left us by the holy prophets and apos- 
tles, if we expect to reach the same goal, or do you ex- 
pect some one to open a church paradise or heaven, if 
you knock at a saloon, dance-hall, playhouse or gambling- 
den? 



CHRISTIANITY; OR, 



CHAPTER III. 

False Impressions and Misrepresentations. 

There have been so many misrepresentations and 
wrong ideas concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ, that 
I will try to point out a few of them. In Matt. 23 : 2, 3 
we have: ''The scribes and Pharisees have sitten on the 
chair of Moses: all therefore whatsoever they shall say 
to you observe and do, but according to their works do 
ye not, for they say, and do not.'' Now, this is some- 
what misleading to a careless student, as this certainly 
refers only to them when they taught Moses and the 
prophets, as they were supposed to do; for in the same 
chapter Christ pronounces woe after woe against those 
very scribes and Pharisees, as in verse 13 : ''But woe to 
you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut 
the kingdom of heaven against men: for you do not go 
in yourselves, and those that are going you suffer not 
to enter." And verse 16: "Woe to you, blind guides;'' 
and in verse 33 he calls them "serpents, generations of 
vipers." Again, concerning the teachings of these Phar- 
isees, He said (Matt. 16:12): "Then they understood 
that he said not that they should beware of the leaven 
of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the 
Sadducees." And if, as our Catholic priests and prelates 
tell us, we must obey them in all things that they com- 
mand us, whether they are good or bad, as they try to 
prove by Matt. 23 : 2, 3, why, then, do Catholics as well 
as Protestants condemn Judas Iscariot for obeying the 
high priest, scribes, Pharisees and council, rather than 
Christ and the Scriptures, as did all the other disciples 
of Christ; and not rather condemn the eleven apostles 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 21 

and other disciples who repudiated the councils and 
priests, whom we are told we must obey, by Catholic 
prelates, as per Deut. 17:8-12? And why did not the 
apostles obey them ? Simply because they misinterpreted 
the Scriptures, as also Satan did when he tempted the 
Lord (Matt. 4:6), when he said: ''If thou be the Son 
of God, cast thyself down; for it is written that he has 
given his angels charge of thee, and in their hands shall 
they bear thee up lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against 
a stone." Christ gave us an example we should follow, 
as did all the early Christians ; namely, to show the cor- 
rect interpretation of the Scripture. In Acts 23 we have 
an instance, as I have just referred to Paul showing the 
correct interpretation of the Scripture; also, in Acts 6: 
12, 13, we see how the orthodox Jews stirred up the 
people, the ancients and the scribes, and, running to- 
gether, they brought Stephen to the council, and they 
charged him with speaking against the Holy Place and 
the Law. In Acts 7 we hear Stephen defying the council 
and priest,^ and interpreting the Scripture correctly. We 
see that he was not ignorant of the Scriptures, and that 
he quoted pages of prophecy orally. In Acts 5:28 we 
have the high priest commanding the apostles : "We com- 
manded you that you should not teach in this name. But 
Peter answering, and the apostles, said. We ought to 
obey Giod rather than men." This is not in harmony 
with those who teach that we should blindly obey priests 
and prelates, regardless of what their conduct is, or what 
they teach. When they refer to Matt. 23 : 2, 3, they find 
a very small support, unless they reject all other Scrip- 
tures bearing on this point, and also the conduct of the 
apostles of Christ, and the first Christians. Now as to 
the multitude which clamored for Christ's death, they 
only obeyed the priests and council, and Judas Iscariot 



22 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

was their willing tool, who later repented and brought 
back his unjust money and confessed his guilt to the 
priests; but the sad fact and its consequences remain; 
and I fear very much that there are many Christians 
who, having abandoned Christ and his word, for substi- 
tutes and the teaching of man, will fare no better. 

Also, concerning the prophecy whereby Christ's suf- 
ferings were foretold (Ps. 21:19; Protestant version, 
22: 18) : "They parted my garments among them, and 
upon my vesture they cast lots/* I have heard sermon 
upon sermon and have read pages of Catholic literature 
trying to explain that this seamless garment signified the 
Christian truth, which can not be divided, and which 
fell to the Roman Catholic Church. Now, John ( 19 : 23, 
24) plainly tells us that this was done that the Scripture 
might be fulfilled. As also, in verses 36, 37 of the same 
chapter, he shows how other Scriptures were fulfilled in 
Christ. Now, I would like to ask how much better, or 
how much nearer Christ and salvation, was the soldier 
who got the seamless coat than the one who did not get 
it? One other lesson we learn from the seamless coat, 
and that is concerning the extreme simplicity of Christ's 
apparel. 

As to Peter's relation to the other apostles and the 
Christian Church, Paul says (2 Cor. 12:11): 'Tor in 
nothing am I less than those who are above measure 
apostles, although I am nothing.'' Peter (according to 
Acts 10 : 26) raised up Cornelius, saying : ** Arise, I also 
am a man." We hear Peter again in his first epistle (5: 
I ) : **The ancients therefore that are among you I be- 
seech, who am myself also an ancient and a witness of 
the sufferings of Christ." And again in Acts 11:2: 
*'And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem they who 
were of the circumcision disputed against Peter;" and 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 23 

in verse 17 of the same chapter, Peter says in his de- 
fense : ''Who was I that I could withstand Gk)d T\ In all 
his controversies Peter points to circumstance, revela- 
tion or reason, but not once to himself as head of the 
church. This action of Peter can not be attributed to 
his modesty; as truth often compelled Christ, the meek- 
est of men, to refer to his divinity and Lordship. In 
John 21 : 23 we see that the people had misunderstood 
Christ, as the saying went forth that John should not 
die; but John corrects it himself, saying that Jesus did 
not say to him he should not die. 

Concerning baptism, we read (Eph. 4:5): "One 
Lord, one faith, one baptism/' i Cor. 10:2: "And all 
in Moses was baptized in the cloud and in the sea." 
Matt. 3:6: "And they were baptized by him [John] in 
the Jordan, confessing their sins." John 4: i, 2: "When 
therefore Jesus understood that the Pharisees had heard 
that Jesus maketh more disciples and baptizeth more than 
John, though Jesus himself did not baptize, but his dis- 
ciples." Long after our Lord was baptized by John in 
the Jordan we hear him say (Luke 12: 50) : "And I have 
a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized, and how I 
am straitened until it be accomplished" (Acts 19:3-5). 
"And he said, In what then were ye baptized? Who 
said in John's baptism? Then Paul said, John baptized 
the people with the baptism of penance, saying that they 
should believe in him who was to come after him; that 
is to say, in Jesus. Having heard these things, they were 
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." Here we have 
the baptism of Moses in the cloud and in the sea; the 
baptism of John; the baptism of Christ, who baptized 
more than John; and Christian baptism. And in Matt. 
3:11 we read of a baptism of the Holy Spirit and of 
fire. Baptism has been so changed from its original 



24 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

meaning, that it has lost almost all its significance, which 
makes it so much more perplexing. John the Baptist 
immersed. Christ was immersed. This was the uni- 
versal way of baptizing for more than a thousand years 
of Christianity. Baptism thus signified a burial; a 
plunging beneath; an overwhelming — as was also the 
baptism of Moses. In Luke 12:50 is the real meaning 
of baptism : after Christ had been baptized in the Jordan, 
and after the Holy Ghost had descended upon him, he 
was straitened till the baptism would be accomplished, as- 
suredly signifying his being baptized (overwhelmed) in 
his death. If this does not satisfy you, kind reader, I 
will refer you to Matt. 22 : 29, where Jesus answered the 
Sadducees concerning the woman who had seven broth- 
ers to husband, and the resurrection, where he said: 
VYou err, not knowing the scriptures, and the power of 
God." How many Christians err, because they know 
not the Scriptures, nor the power of God? Let God ex- 
pound the Scriptures; he alone is able. 

In the seventh chapter of Hebrews, the priesthood is 
explained. Verse 1 1 : ** What further need was there that 
another priest [not priests] should rise according to the 
order of Melchisedec, and not be called according to the 
order of Aaron?" Heb. 9:27, 28: "And as it is ap- 
pointed unto men once to die, and after this the judg- 
ment ; so also Christ was once offered to exhaust the 
sins of many. The second time he shall appear with- 
out sin unto them that expect him unto salvation." 

Peter speaks of the epistles of Paul, and the Scrip- 
tures in general (2 Pet. 3 : 16), as containing some things 
hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable 
wrest to their destruction and perdition. This would go 
to show that we should teach our children from their 
infancy the Scriptures as Timothy and Susanna were 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 25 

taught, so as to be neither ignorant nor unstable in the 
same. Peter exhorts us to increase in the knowledge of 
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; and Christ tells us, 
according to John 5: 39: ''Search the scriptures, for you 
think in them to have life everlasting, and the same are 
they that give testimony of me/' We are also told that 
Paul was sent to Ananias (or Ananias was sent to Paul) 
in order that he might receive instructions as to further 
action, so that he might receive remission of his sin and 
admittance into the kingdom of God. Acts 9: 17: "For 
the Lord had said. Arise, and go into the city, and there 
it shall be told thee what thou must do." The remainder 
of the chapter relates how Paul was interviewed, his 
sight restored, and about his baptism. But hear what 
Paul himself says about it: 'Tor I give you to under- 
stand, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by 
me is not according to man : for neither did I receive it 
from man, nor did I learn it but by the revelation of 
Jesus Christ ; neither went I to Jerusalem to the apostles 
who were before me'' (Gal. i: 11, 12, 17, 18). 

Our artists represent John as baptizing Christ by 
pouring water upon his head. Any one who has more 
than a meager education knows that this is a misrepre- 
sentation. They also paint Satan in fierce and ugly 
forms ; with horns, tail, etc. But Satan comes to us in 
the most pleasing and deceiving way possible, as we see 
from Paul (2 Cor. 11:14): "For Satan himself trans- 
formeth himself into an angel of light." Paul also 
warned the Corinthians against the subtilty of Satan. 
Nothing is more favorable to Satan than to misrepresent 
him so that he can come in unawares or unidentified. 
The drunkard in the gutter does not tempt the youth to 
follow him, but the gilded saloon; nor does the fallen, 
disgraced prostitute tempt the maiden, but the dance- 



^^ CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

hall, with its vanities and gayeties, leads to the fall. 
Satan disguised himself into the most subtile creature 
in paradise to deceive Eve. He practices the same de- 
ceit to-day. He appears in whatever you admire most 
or love best (that is, according to the flesh) to mislead 
the unwary. If he came as our artists paint him, few 
would be his willing victims. So much in our various 
creeds has been so misrepresenting and so changed from 
the original truth, that Scripture has lost much of its 
meaning. Yea, worse, it has virtually become a mis- 
leader. 

Now a word to the skeptic, who says the Scripture 
contradicts itself ; for instance, Luke 2:14. This has 
been translated so differently as to mislead. The Cath- 
olic version has it: **Glory to God in the highest, and 
on earth peace to men of good will.'' The Protestant 
version has the latter part of the same verse: "Peace, 
good will toward man." The American Standard Ver- 
sion reads: "And on earth, peace among men, in whom 
he is well pleased." The former and the latter seem to 
be the better rendering, as they do not contradict (as 
skeptics say they do). Matt. 10:34, 35: "Do not think 
that I am come to send peace upon earth. I came not 
to send peace, but the sword. For I am come to set a 
man at variance against his father, and the daughter 
against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her 
mother-in-law." Also in Luke 12:51-53, also in Mic. 
7:5, 6. By taking Matt. 10 : 17-22, it makes this a little 
clearer. But listen to Christ again: "Amen; I say to 
you, you shall lament and weep, but the world [or, 
rather, the wicked] shall rejoice, and you shall be made 
sorrowful; but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." 
Now we see that when the Lord refers to man as of 
good will, or in whom He is well pleased, he invariably 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 27 

speaks of the just; but when he speaks of the world, it 
invariably refers to the wicked, who follow the lusts of 
the flesh. In John i6 : 20 Christ declares that while the 
just shall be sorrowful, to some extent, this sorrow would 
be turned into everlasting joy; but the wicked would in- 
deed laugh and follow their luxury, and would soon 
experience those dissensions as we daily see: divisions, 
revolt, divorce, murder, etc., as is stated in Matt. 10: 
21: 'The brother also shall deliver up brother to death; 
and the father, the son; and the children shall rise up 
against their parents, and shall put them to death.*' The 
just and the wicked are here, indeed, delivered up to- 
gether, but while the unjust have no hope — only despair 
and vengeance in their hearts — the just have peace of 
mind, and are resigned and have that immortal hope 
which is ever theirs. But the class that delivers up un- 
justly, or betrays, are ever the Judas class and experience 
the same gratification, sooner or later, as he did, in his 
unjust goods and deeds; mainly remorse, discontent, de- 
spair; in proof of which numerous passages could be 
cited 



28 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 



CHAPTER IV. 

False Prophets. 

In the Third Book of Kings (Protestant version, 
First Book of Kings), chapter 22, we have a striking 
example of false prophets. Four hundred spake lies ; 
only one, the truth. Here we see that numbers do not 
count. In Jer. 14: 11-15 we have a very strong state- 
ment as to false prophets. When Jeremiah had received 
his charge of the Lord, he said (almost doubting, as it 
were): "Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, the prophets say to 
them, you shall not see the sword, and there shall be no 
famine among you; but he will give you true peace in 
this place. And the Lord said to me [Jeremiah], The 
prophets prophesy falsely in my name. I sent them not, 
neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to 
them : they prophesy unto you a lying vision and divina- 
tion and deceit, and the seduction of their own heart." 
Again, in Jer. 23 : 14-16: *'And I have seen the likeness of 
adulteresses and the way of lying, in the prophets of Jeru- 
salem, and they strengthen the hands of the wicked, that 
no man should return from his evil doings; they are all 
become unto me as Sodom, as Gomorrah : Thus says the 
Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken." In Micheas 
3 : 5 and 1 1 : "Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets 
that make my people err; that bite with their teeth and 
preach peace; and if a man give not something into their 
mouth, they prepare war against him: her princes have 
judged for bribes, and her priests have taught for hire, 
and his prophets divined for money; and they leaned 
upon the Lord, saying. Is not this the Lord in the midst 
of us; no evil shall come upon us." In Sophonias 3:4: 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 29 

"His prophets are senseless men, without faith; her 
priests have polluted the sanctuary; they have acted un- 
justly against the law/' Now, these are just a few of 
the many instances of prophets and priests of the old 
Law, to say nothing of those false or idolatrous priests 
and prophets outside of the Mosaic Law. 

Let us now consider a few New Testament prophecies 
referring to the same subject. In Mark 13 : 21-23 : ''And 
many false prophets shall arise and shall seduce many. 
Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or 
there, do not believe him; for there shall arise false 
Christs and false prophets." Matt. 24 : 1 1 gives the same 
warning. Now, don't for a moment think this refers to 
a distant period. Note i John 4:3: "And every spirit 
that dissolves Jesus is not of God ; and this is antichrist, 
of whom you have heard, that he cometh; and he is now 
already in the world." If he was in the world in the 
time of the apostles, why do we look to a future time 
for the fulfillment of these prophecies? They are being 
fulfilled in our very midst; but so many Christians are 
blinded, as were the Jews who crucified our Lord. By 
turning to 2 Cor. 11 : 13-15, we see that Paul had trouble 
with false prophets: "For such false prophets are de- 
ceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apos- 
tles of Christ, and no wonder! for Satan himself trans- 
formeth himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is 
no great thing if his ministers be transformed as min- 
isters of justice." In 2 Tim. 4: 3, 4: "For there shall be 
a time when they shall not endure sound doctrine, but 
according to their own desires they shall heap to them- 
selves teachers having itching ears. And will turn away, 
indeed, their hearing, from the truth, but will be turned 
to fables." Who are those that turn to fables but they 
who abandon the Scriptures, for all sorts of substitutes, 



30 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

and hair-splitting quibblings and superstitions? Listen 
to Peter (2 Pet 2:1-3): "But there were also false 
prophets among the people, even as there shall be lying 
teachers among you, who shall bring in sects of per- 
dition, and deny the Lord who bought them — and many 
shall follow their luxuries, through whom the way of 
truth shall be blasphemed. And through covetousness, 
with feigned words, they shall make merchandise of 
you." In I John 4:1: **Dearly beloved, believe not every 
spirit, but try the spirits [judge yourselves], whether 
they be of God, because many false prophets are gone out 
into the world." In i John 2 : 26 : "These things I write 
you concerning them that seduce you." We see that 
Christ and his apostles have warned us on every hand 
concerning them that seduce us. Should we not be 
alarmed and feel suspicious of any who restrain or dis- 
courage us from reading or studying these instructions 
and warnings? 

There is also another class of false prophets, most 
pernicious to youths; they interpret everything as fun. 
They lie in fun; desecrate the Lord's Day; disobey 
parents, and superiors, and the commands of the Lord, 
but never do it in malice, and excuse themselves with 
the thought that it was all done in fun. This is a most 
dangerous deceit. It may not be as malicious to do it 
without malice; but violating the law of the Most High 
is never any fun. Take a fatal poison in fun; or let a 
neighbor burn your home in fun ! How often do friends 
become enemies because of overdoing fun? And we 
think it fun to trifle with the law of the Lord of 
hosts! Know you this: you never yield to the slightest 
untruth in any form without loss. It will to some ex- 
tent weaken your mind and intellect, darken your under- 
standing, obscure your vision and weaken your will. If 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 31 

you think this statement too strong, go to the sani- 
tariums and asylums for the feeble-minded, and you will 
find just such funny people, who can't take anything 
serious or of much consequence. 



32 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 



CHAPTER V. 

Who Are Disciples of Christ? 

We must again go to the sacred pages for this as 
well as for all other facts. Christ says (Matt. 12:50) : 
'Tor whosoever shall do the will of my Father, who is 
in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." I 
will only refer to Matt. 25 : 34-45, as Catholics well know 
this passage, where the Lord will say to his disciples: 
''Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom 
prepared from the foundation of the world; for I was 
hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye 
gave me to drink/' and so on. This should be conclusive 
to every earnest mind what is required of Christ's fol- 
lowers. "If any man come to me, and hate not his father 
and mother and wife and children and brother and sister, 
yea, and his own Hfe also, he cannot be my disciple'' 
(Luke 14:26). This seems to be a difficult passage for 
many, but it teaches a very plain truth. How decidedly 
persistent and unwavering we must follow Christ, that 
we dare not violate his holy Law to please our dearest 
friend, yea, our own flesh, or lust. This is apparent by 
turning to Paul (Rom. 12: i) : "Present your bodies a 
living sacrifice." We must lay all our passions and affec- 
tions, or whatsoever leads away from Christ, on the altar 
of God as a sacrifice. Christ says (Luke 16: 10) if we 
are faithful in that which is least, we shall also be in 
that which is great; and he that is unjust in little, will 
be so in great also. Again we hear the words of Christ: 
"But the hour cometh and now is, when the true adorers 
shall adore the Father, in spirit and in truth. For the 
Father also seeketh such to adore him. God is a Spirit, 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN S3 

and they that adore him must adore him in spirit and in 
truth" (John 4:23, 24). "Then Jesus said to those 
Jews that beUeved him, if you continue in my word, you 
shall be my disciples indeed'' (John 8:31). "My sheep 
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" 
(John 10:27). "By this shall all men know that you 
are my disciples, if you have love one for another" (John 
13: 35). "For they who are according to the flesh relish 
the things that are of the flesh, but they who are accord- 
ing to the Spirit, mind the things which are of the 
Spirit; for the wisdom of the flesh is death; but the 
wisdom of the Spirit is life and peace. Because the wis- 
dom of the flesh is an enemy of God, for it is not subject 
to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are 
in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the 
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell 
in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, 
he is none of his" (Rom. 8:5-9). 

"Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the 
kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, 
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the eflfeminate, nor 
sodomite, nor thieves, nor the contentious, nor drunk- 
ards, nor railers, nor extortioners shall possess the king- 
dom of God" (i Cor. 6:9, 10). "For know ye this and 
understand, that no fornicator, nor unclean, nor covetous 
person, which is a serving of idols, hath any inheritance in 
the kingdom of Christ and of God" (Eph. 5:5). "But if 
you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your 
hearts, glory not, and be not liars against the truth, for 
this is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, 
sensual, diabolical, for where envying and contention is 
there is inconstancy and every evil work" (Jas. 3: 14-16). 

The second chapter of i John is a most remarkable 
chapter. Just a few extracts: "My little children, these 



34 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

things I write to you, that ye may not sin. . . . And in 
this we know that we have known him, if we keep his 
commandments. He that says he knows him and keepeth 
not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in 
him. But he that keepeth his word, in him the charity 
of God is truly perfect, and by this we know that we are 
in him." In Rom. 2:y, 8 : "To them indeed, who ac- 
cording to patience in good works seek glory and honor 
and incorruption, life everlasting; but to them who are 
contentious and who obey not the truth, but give credit 
to iniquity, wrath and indignation." In Rom. 6:i6: 
"Know you that to whom you yield yourselves servants 
to obey, his servants you are, whether it be of sin, unto 
death, or of obedience unto justice." "Whereas there 
15 among you envying and contention, are you not carnal 
and walk according to man?" (i Cor. 3:3). Any one 
who believes in sectarianism should study this chapter 
carefully. "But he who adheres to the Lord, is one 
spirit" (i Cor. 6:17). "But even to this day when 
Moses is read the veil is upon their heart. But when 
they shall be converted to the Lord the veil shall be taken 
away" (2 Cor. 3: 15, 16). "And if our gospel be also 
hidden, it is hidden to those who perish" (2 Cor. 4:3). 
"But I fear, lest as the serpent seduced Eve by his sub- 
tilty, so your minds should be corrupted and fall from the 
simplicity [mark the word simplicity] which is in Christ" 
(2 Cor. 11:3). "Try your own selves if you be in the 
faith; prove ye yourselves. Know you not your own 
selves that Christ Jesus is in you, unless, perhaps, you be 
reprobates?" (2 Cor. 13:5). "But increase in grace and 
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
To him be glory, both now, and unto the day of eternity. 
Amen" (2 Pet. 3:18). These are the last recorded 
words and admonitions of Peter, How are we to in- 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 35 

crease in the knowledge of Christ but by the careful 
study of his Word and revelation? If you will prayer- 
fully study the Scriptures, God will not send you Philip, 
as he did to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40), but 
he will send you his Holy Spirit to guide you into all his 
truth ; and he teaches much as a father or mother would 
their child. He will teach you what you are able or 
capable of doing first. If you are faithful and dutiful, 
he will reveal more; but if you neglect his inspiration 
and his voice, he will not lead you. 

Sectarian prelates tell us they have a monopoly on 
salvation, the Holy Spirit and Last Supper, and so on. 
There is nothing more absurd. Christ tells us (in Matt. 
7: 20) : ^'Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them." 
In numerous citations already quoted, Christ demands 
that we judge for ourselves. This is apparent from 
John 10: 24-27: "The Jews, therefore, came round about 
him and said to him, How long dost thou keep our 
minds in suspense? if thou be the Christ tell us plainly. 
Jesus answered them, I speak to you and you believe not. 
The works that I do in the name of the Father, they 
give testimony of me. [Or, rather, judge me by my 
fruit, or works.] But you do not believe because you 
are not my sheep J^ "If you love me, keep my com- 
mandments. And I will ask the Father and he shall 
give you another Paraclete that he may abide with you 
forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot re- 
ceive'' (they are of the world who walk according to the 
flesh) (John 14: 15-17). Also in Wisdom 1:2-5: "For 
he is found by them that tempt him not, and he shows 
himself to them that have faith in him. For perverse 
thoughts separate from God. . . . For wisdom will not 
enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject 
to sin. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from 



36 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

the deceitful." Note well what manner of people he 
flees from ; not from the poor, ignorant or common 
people. He never promises his light to any one be- 
cause he may happen to be priest or prelate. We all 
have an equal opportunity to receive the Holy Spirit, 
whether rich or poor, bond or free, male or female; as 
our Lx)rd assures us that he respects not the person of 
man, but searches the heart. Now listen to Christ (Luke 
14:13, 14): '*But when thou makest a feast call the 
poor, the feeble, the lame and the blind, and thou shalt 
be blessed because they have not wherewith to make the 
recompense; for recompense shall be made them at the 
resurrection of the just.*' If we are spiritual we seek 
not the recompense of the flesh or world, but of the 
Spirit, which is to do the will of God. Note John 15: 
14: *'You are my friends if you do what I command 
you.'* Christ says: *'Learn of me, because I am meek 
and humble of heart.'* The very fact that his coat was 
seamless goes to show how simple was his apparel; al- 
though he was the real and true High Priest, he wore 
no costly vestments with gold fringes and so forth. He 
established the Last Supper, not in a cathedral costing 
many thousands of dollars, not at an altar decorated 
with images and gold, but in a hall. Christ and his dis- 
ciples sat at table. This reminds us of the words of Paul, 
'The simplicity which is in Christ." 

A word as to what manner of fasting is required of 
the followers of Christ : "Why have we fasted, and thou 
hast not regarded ; why have we humbled our souls, and 
thou hast not taken notice ? Behold in the day you fast, 
your selfwill is found, and you exact of all your debtors. 
... Is not this rather a fast which I have chosen ? Loose 
the bands of wickedness ; undo the bundles that oppress. 
Let them that are broken, go free, and break asunder 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 37 

every burden. Deal thy bread to the hungry and bring 
the needy and the harborless into thy house ; when thou 
shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own 
flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning 
. . . when thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, 
and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light 
rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the 
noonday. And the Lord will give thee rest continually'* 
(Isa. 58:3-11). When the people inquired of the Lord 
concerning fasts, through Zacharias the prophet, they 
were told (chap. 7:9-12): "Thus saith the Lord of 
hosts, saying, Judge ye true judgment and show ye 
mercy and compassion every man to his brother. And 
oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the 
stranger, and the poor, and let not a man devise evil in 
his heart against his brother. But they would not 
hearken and turned away the shoulder to depart, and 
they stopped their ears not to hear. And they made their 
hearts as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the 
law and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his 
Spirit by the hand of the former prophet: so a great in- 
dignation came from the Lord." In Luke 18:12 we 
read of another fast approved of by a class of men, but 
rejected by our Lord: *T fast twice in the week; I give 
tithes of all that I possess." The very fact that he 
fasted so often indicated that it was not a fast as the 
Lord required, but a substitute, or invention of man. To 
fast according to the Scripture is to abstain from pride, 
selfishness, and all that is contrary to charity or justice, 
and, in fact, everything contrary to the Scriptures. And 
here we find all the true disciples of Christ. If doing 
the will of God makes our relation to be brother, sister 
and mother of Christ as per Matt. 12:50, how zealous 
should we be to gain that relation. Imagine yourself in 



38 CHRISTIANITY ; OR, 

a strange country, surrounded by rich strangers, how 
timid would you feel to ask assistance in your every per- 
plexity and need. They might construe your appeal too 
bold or too familiar, etc. But suppose it were your 
brother, sister or mother, how different would you feel. 
But that is just what the observance of God's holy law 
makes us — fellow-servants and brethren of Jesus, the 
holy angels, the apostles and prophets. But if we neg- 
lect that holy precept, it will make us foreigners and 
strangers to them — something like a Chinaman in this 
country, the United States of America. 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN S9 



CHAPTER VL 

The Bread of Life. 

Here is a subject that has caused much strife, division 
and contention. I will point out a few plain facts which 
can not be gainsaid, if happily I may extract my kind 
reader out of this muddle. In the sixth chapter of John 
we read: "Labor not for the meat that perishes, but 
for that which endureth unto everlasting life, which the 
Son of man shall give unto you.'' The Jews therefore 
said: *'Our fathers did eat ntanna in the desert; as it is 
written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then 
Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen, I say unto you, Moses 
gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father gives 
you the true bread from heaven ; for the bread of God is 
that which cometh down from heaven and giveth life to 
the world. Then they said. Give us always this bread. 
And Jesus said, I am the bread of life, and he that 
cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that beiieveth on 
me shall not thirst. . . . Amen, amen, I say unto you, He 
that beiieveth in me hath everlasting life. Your fathers 
did eat manna in the desert and they died. This is the 
bread which cometh down from heaven, that if any one 
eat of it he may not die. I am the living bread which 
came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread 
he shall live forever, and the bread which I will give is 
my flesh for the life of the world. This is the bread 
that came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat 
manna and died. He that eateth this bread shall live 
forever. It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profit- 
eth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are 
spirit and life." (Or, in other words, The bread I will 



40 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

give you is my Spirit, to them that keep my word, which 
is also plain from Paul — Rom. 8:9: "Now if any man 
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his/') This is 
so self-evident it should need no comment, otherwise the 
body should not die. But all, the apostles not excepted, 
have died according to the body of flesh. 

The Last Supper was given us as a memorial or re- 
membrance, and by its observance we show the death 
of our Lord until he comes, and we confess that we 
believe in his suffering, death, burial and resurrection, 
and in his second coming to take us unto himself. We 
have no right whatever to change an ordinance of our 
Lord, and this is especially of his own choice and means 
so much to the Christian. "Amen, amen, I say to you. 
If any man keep my word, he shall not see death for- 
ever'' (John 8: 51). Here is the true bread of Ufe that 
comes down from heaven, as to Christ's earthly body. 
His body did not come from heaven, but was shaped in 
his mother's womb and was nourished as other bodies. 
Listen to Christ once more (John 12: 50) : "And I know 
his [God the Father's] commandment is life everlast- 
ing." And in Deut. 8:3: "He afflicted thee with want, 
and gave thee manna for thy food, to show that not in 
bread alone does man live, but in every word that pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth of God." Right here is where 
the Jew fell down. He looked to the manna rather than 
to the words of life, for life. The Scripture did not err 
in saying, "Bread from heaven," but the Jews in not dis- 
cerning either the Giver or the Gift. Christ said, not 
because it was of Moses, but of the Father. So, many 
Christians make the same mistake to-day. They can not 
see the spiritual food and adhere to the figure or type, 
as did the Jews, in spite of the most overwhelming evi- 
dence. Our Lord, when tempted, further confirmed this 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 41 

doctrine, immediately saying, *'Not by bread alone does 
man live, but by every word that proceeds out of the 
mouth of God." Or, in other words. Bread is not the 
chief source of life. Why seek it by unlawful means .^ 
He would rather suffer want of material bread, and make 
sure of the bread of life — the Eternal Bread. Matthew 
(26:26-30), Mark (14:22-26), Luke (22:15-20), tell 
of the institution of the Last Supper, but not one of them 
calls it the bread of life, but refers to it as the last 
supper, or breaking of bread. Both Matthew and Luke 
tell us that after they had eaten they sang a hymn. 

When the angel liberated the apostles from the prison, 
he sarid (Acts 5 : 19, 20) : **Go, and standing, speak in the 
temple to the people all the words of this life." Stephen 
in the council, speaking of Moses, said (Acts 7 : 38) : 
''This is he who was in the church in the wilderness with 
the angels who spoke to him on Mt. Sinai, and with our 
fathers who received the words of life to give to us.'' 
The Scriptures say that Stephen was full of the Holy 
Spirit, and this was his last address before his martyr- 
dom, but he did not confound the bread of life with the 
manna, neither could I ever find that any of the apostles 
confounded the Last Supper with the bread of life, or the 
Word that endureth forever. In Col. 3 : 4 we read that 
"when Christ shall appear who is your life." He is also 
quoted as the Word made flesh; also the Father, the 
Word, and the Holy Ghost. In John 4 : 14 we hear 
Christ call his doctrine ''water of Hfe." "But the water 
that I shall give him, shall become in him a fountain 
of water springing up into everlasting life." 

Concerning the partaking of the Lord's Supper, we 
read : "For we being many are one bread ; one body, all 
who partake of one bread" (i Cor. 10: 17). We must 
assimilate the bread, so that it may become part of us. 



42 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

or it comes to be our flesh; so with the Bread of Life. 
The doctrines and precepts of our Lord we must assim- 
ilate, so that we become one spirit with Christ. As the 
body which does not assimilate food, or indulges in 
deadly poison, will soon become weak, feeble and in- 
capable of healthy activity, and even die, so also is the 
spiritual life. Our Lord said: "My meat is to do the 
will of him who sent me'' (John 4:34). In i John 2: 
17: "But he that does the will of God, abides for ever.'' 
The spiritual food must permeate our every thought, 
word and action, and must bear fruit, otherwise it would 
be as the unfruitful tree that was cast into the fire, or 
as the fig-tree Christ cursed. All who partake of the 
Spirit of Christ are necessarily of one spirit. "For if 
you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins" 
(John 8:24). This is the natural consequence for re- 
fusing to partake of the Bread of Life: just as any man 
must die who will not partake of nor assimilate material 
food. 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 43 



CHAPTER VII. 

Repentance, Forgiveness of Sins and Sacrifice. 

Of this we have a noteworthy example in 4 Kings 
22:8, 10, 11: "And Helcies the high priest said to Sap- 
han the scribe: I have found the book of the law in the 
house of the Lord, and Helcies gave the book to Saphan 
and he read it. , . . And when Saphan had read it before 
the king, and the king had heard the words of the law 
of the Lord, he rent his garments/' Here we see a sad 
state of affairs ; the book of the law of God lost. We 
only need to read a little more of the history of those 
days to see into what superstition and idolatry the people 
had fallen. We see also what effect the reading of the 
law had on the righteous king. He rent his garments 
when he found that his life, and the lives of his servants, 
did not conform to the law of God. Now, let's see what 
he did. 4 Kings 23 : 2, 3 : "And the king went up to 
the temple of the Lord, and the men of Judah and all 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him; the priests and 
the prophets and all the people, both little and great ; and 
in the hearing of them all he read all the words of the 
book of the covenant which was found in the house of 
the Lord. And the king stood upon the steps, and he 
made a covenant with the Lord, to walk after the Lord, 
and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and 
his ceremonies, with all their heart and with all their 
soul, and to perform the words of this covenant which 
was written in that book, and the people agreed to the 
covenant.'* This was a repentance according to Scrip- 
ture. Again (Ezek. 33: 13-16) : "Yea, if I shall say to 
the just, that he shall surely live, and he trusting in his 



44 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

justice commit iniquity ; all his justice shall be forgotten, 
and in his iniquity which he has committed, in the same 
shall he die. And if I shall say to the wicked, Thou 
shalt surely die; and he do penance for his sins, and 
do judgment and justice: and if that wicked man re- 
store the pledge and render what he has robbed and 
walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust 
thing, he shall surely live, and shall not die ; none of his 
sin which he has committed shall be imputed to him. He 
hath done judgment and justice. He shall surely live." 
This is the sort of repentance God requires ; upon which 
he also promises forgiveness. These are his own words. 
And now listen to Dan. 4:24: ''Wherefore, O king, let 
my counsel be acceptable to thee, and redeem thou thy 
sins with alms, and thy iniquities with works of mercy 
to the poor; perhaps he will forgive thy offenses." We 
have a New Testament example where a king forgave 
his servant ten thousand talents (Matt. 18:23-35), be- 
cause he besought him; but when that forgiven servant 
met his fellow-servant, who likewise besought him, and 
he refused to show compassion or forgive: we see how 
the king recalled his servant whom he had forgiven, and 
reversed his former decision and charged him again with 
the whole debt. This is quite in harmony with Ezek. 33 : 
13-16, just mentioned. In Matt. 27:3, 4: ''Then Judas, 
who betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, re- 
penting himself brought back the thirty pieces of silver 
to the chief priests and the ancients, saying, I have sinned 
in betraying innocent blood." Now I fear that many 
Catholics will fare no better who simply confess to the 
priest. Had Judas confessed to Christ, and asked his par- 
don, he would, no doubt, have been forgiven. As we shall 
also, if we do as Zacchaeus when he said : "Half of all I 
possess I give to the poor [not to Christ, nor to the 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 45 

priests], and if I have wronged any man, I will restore 
it fourfold/' We also have the example of two robbers 
of whom Luke relates (23:39-44), how the one asked 
the Lord, in his arrogance, if he be the Christ, to save 
him, and himself; but the other confessed to Christ, be- 
fore witnesses, both his guilt, as also his need of Christ's 
salvation. We all know the answer. Every Christian 
needs to confess likewise, when evil befalls him, for all 
indeed suffer justly, for we shall receive the due reward 
of our deeds. Listen to what Peter said when he was 
offered money by Simon the magician, who now was 
baptized, and a Christian (Acts 8:19-22): "But Peter 
said to him, May thy money perish with thee because 
thou hast thought that the gift of God could be pur- 
chased with money. Thou hast no part nor lot in this 
matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Do 
penance therefore for this thy wickedness, arid pray God, 
if perhaps this thought of thy heart may be forgiven 
thee." Now, here is Peter, as Catholics are taught and 
believe, the Pope, the head of the church, with the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven, empowered to loose and to 
bind, to forgive or retain sins, and he exhorts Simon 
the magician to pray to God, if perhaps he may be for- 
given. He could not be certain that he would be for- 
given. Peter could not absolve him as it appears ; neither 
could he grant him an indulgence on condition Simon 
offered the money to some worthy cause ; all he could do 
was to send him to God. Catholic friend, think this over 
well. ''But if you will not forgive, neither will your 
Father who is in heaven forgive you your sins" (Mark 
II : 26) . Here we see on what condition Christ promises 
forgiveness ; not on condition that we confess to a priest 
and be absolved, but on condition that we correct our 
wrongs, at least wherever possible, and that we forgive 



46 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

our neighbor. "Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you" 
(Luke 6:37). "And be ye kind one to another, merci- 
ful, forgiving one another, even as God has forgiven 
you in Christ'* (Eph. 4:32). "If we say we have no 
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If 
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us 
our sins'' (i John 1:8, 9). "Be it known therefore to 
you, men and brethren, that through him [Jesus] for- 
giveness of sins is preached to you; and from all things 
from which you could not be justified by the law of 
Moses" (Acts 13:38, 39). In him, every one who be- 
lieveth is justified. "And how you w^ere converted to 
God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and 
to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he has raised 
from the dead; Jesus, who hath delivered us from the 
wrath to come" (i Thess. 1:9, 10). "But if any man 
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, 
the Just. And he is the propitiation for our sins; and 
not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world" 
(i John 2: I, 2). In the face of all this evidence, how 
can we believe for one moment that our forgiveness de- 
pends on the absolution of a man-made priest? 

We will now consider "sacrifice," using the words of 
the Holy Ghost, as heretofore, for in 2 Pet. 1:21 he 
says: "For prophecy came not by the will of man at 
any time; but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by 
the Holy Ghost." "He that keepeth the law multiplieth 
offerings. It is a wholesome sacrifice to take heed to 
the commandments and to depart from all iniquity. And 
to depart from injustice is to offer a propitiatory sacri- 
fice for injustice, and a begging of pardon for sins. He 
shall return thanks that offereth fine flour, and he that 
doth mercy, offereth sacrifice. To depart from iniquity 
is that which pleases the Lord, and to depart from in- 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 47 

justice is an eternity for sin" (Eccles. 35: 1-5). ''But to 
whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and 
little and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my words?" 
(Isa, 66:2). "Doth the Lord desire holocaust and vic- 
tims and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be 
obeyed ? For obedience is better than sacrifice" ( i Kings 
15:22). "Offer up the sacrifice of justice and trust in 
the Lord" (Ps. 4:6). In Isa. i: 10-23 the Lord warns 
the people to offer sacrifice no more in vain, but to cor- 
rect their evil ways. "To what purpose do you bring 
me frankincense from Saba and the sweet-smelling cane 
from a far country? Your holocausts are not accept- 
able nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me" (Jer. 6: 20). 
"For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowl- 
edge of God more than holocaust" (Osse 6:6, 7). "I 
will show thee, O man, what is good and what the Lord 
requires of thee. Verily, to do judgment and to love 
mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God" (Mich. 6: 
8). And in Matt. 9: 13, also 12:7: "And if you knew 
what this meant, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." 
Also in Mark 12: 33, the scribe said: "And that he [God] 
should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole 
tmderstanding, and with the whole soul, and with the 
whole strength ; and to love one's neighbor as one's self 
IS a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices. And 
Jesus, seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him, 
Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." "The be- 
ginning of a good way is to do justice, and this is more 
acceptable with God than to offer sacrifice" (Prov. 16: 
5). "But now^ once at the end of ages, he hath appeared 
for the destruction of sin, by the sacrifice of himself; 
and as it is appointed for men once to die, and after this 
the judgment; so also Christ was offered once to exhaust 
the sins of many" (Heb. 9:26-28). And again from 



^8 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

Heb. lo: 12, 14, 18, 26: *'But he, offering one sacrifice 
for sins, forever sitteth on the right hand of God. For 
by one oblation he hath perfected forever them that are 
sanctified. Now where there is remission, of these there 
is no more an offering for sin. For if we sin wilfully 
after having received a knowledge of the truth, there is 
no more left a sacrifice for sins." **By him, therefore, 
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually: 
that is the fruit of our lips; glorifying his name. And 
do not forget to do good, and to impart, for by such 
sacrifices God's favor is obtained*' (Heb. 13:15, 16). 
^*Be you also as living stones built up a spiritual house, 
a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices accept- 
able to God by Jesus Christ" (i Pet. 2:5). It is plain 
here that all Christians are entitled, and requested, to 
offer sacrifice to God; no matter what the sex, or state 
in life, we may offer sacrifice to God that can not be sur- 
passed by prelate or pope. Paul, no doubt, had this in 
mind when he wrote to the Galatians (3: 28) : 'There is 
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, 
there is neither male nor female ; for you are all one in 
Christ." This chapter should clear many a doubt in 
every Catholic, as I have used only the words of the 
Holy Ghost in the sacred Scriptures, and used the Cath- 
olic version exclusively, not because I believe them supe- 
rior to other versions, but on account of the prejudice 
that is taught into the Catholics against everything out- 
side Catholicity. Dear Catholic reader, I simply wish to 
lead you to Christ and his Word; to lead you away 
from deceit and false teachers, as you will note that the 
Bible is full of warnings. I will point you to James the 
apostle again, in reference as to where to find wisdom: 
^*But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of Grod, who 
giveth to all abundantly, and upbraideth not, and it shall 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 49 

be given him. But let him ask in faith; not wavering" 
(Jas. 1:5). Why did the apostles all send their hearers 
to God, when they could impose their hands on the faith- 
ful and impart the Holy Ghost? They well understood 
that it was the gift of God, that no man might glory. 



60 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Images. 

There is so much said about images in the Catholic 
Church! Let us consult first the word of God before 
forming a conclusion. "Thou shalt not make to thyself 
a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in 
heaven above or in the earth beneath ; nor of those 
things that are in the sea under the earth'' (Ex. 20:4). 
This is part of the second commandment. But in the 
Catholic catechisms it is so abridged few Catholics know 
what the second commandment is. "Keep, therefore, 
your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in the 
day that the Lord God spoke to you in Hebron from 
the midst of the fire: lest perhaps, being deceived, you 
might make you a graven image of male or female*' 
(Deut. 4: 15, 16). "Neither shalt thou make nor set up 
to thyself a statue, which things the Lord thy God 
hateth" (Deut. 16:22). "And the Levites shall pro- 
nounce and say to all the men of Israel, with a loud voice. 
Cursed is the man that maketh a graven or molten thing ; 
the abomination of the Lord, the work of the hand of 
artificers, and shall put it in a sacred place. And all the 
people shall answer and say. Amen" (Deut. 27: 14, 15). 
"And they have set their idols in the house in which my 
name is called upon, to defile it" (Jer. 32:34). "For 
their tongue that is polished by the craftsmen, and them- 
selves laid over with gold and silver, are false things and 
they cannot speak. And as if it was for a maiden that 
loveth to go gay, so do they take gold and make them 
up" (Baruch 6:7, 8). Here is a noteworthy point to 
be made: images of to-day, as a rule, are not made to 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 51 

represent the saints as they were in the flesh; as these 
were of the common, plain people and not arrayed as the 
artificers represent them. Neither can they represent 
their glorified spirits in heaven ; but are simply made to 
please the artificers, or for the market, so that they will 
command a good price. Listen again to Baruch (6:24- 
27) : ''Men buy them at a high price, whereas there is 
no breath in them, and having not the use of feet, they 
are carried upon shoulders, declaring to men how vile 
they are. Be they confounded also that worship them. 
Therefore if they fall to the ground they rise not up 
again of themselves, nor if a man set them upright will 
they stand by themselves ; but their gifts shall be set be- 
fore them as to the dead. The things that are sacrificed 
to them, their priests sell and abuse in like manner ; also 
their wives take part of them, but give nothing of it, 
either to the sick or to the poor." Here is another 
thought: while the Latin Catholic priests now have no 
wife to partake, still they, as a rule, are not liberal to 
the poor. Christ said : ''What you have done to the least 
of mine, you have done unto me." But he promised noth- 
ing to image worshipers but wrath! You say you do 
not worship images, but I know what you do. I myself 
helped to carry them in procession, and I tell you what 
you do ; you transgress the Scriptures ; you give scandal 
to your Protestant brethren, and to unbelievers. You 
bestow untold sums of money on them to beautify them, 
to please your own taste and imaginations, and set be- 
fore them candles and flowers. While there are images 
of God and of God's own design, sick, poor, needy in 
want and distress, on whom your money and energy 
might be spent, in the service of your brethren and 
of God, and not waste them on wood, stone and such 
as the prophet has just described. The apostle Paul 



52 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

said: *To whom you yield your members to serve, his 
servants you are/' Therefore, if you serve dead wood, 
or stone, or images of any kind, their servants you are 
indeed. Once more to Baruch (6:69, 72): 'Tor as a 
scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing, so 
are there gods of wood and of silver, and laid over with 
gold. Better therefore, is the just man that hath no 
idols, for he shall be far from reproach." My Catholic 
brethren, if your images in general have more virtue 
than these herein described I fail to find them, unless per- 
haps, as a neighbor said to me, that he loved them so 
very much. If that be an excuse, the drunkard can say 
he loves his liquor ; the adulterer, his lust ; I suppose the 
idolaters of old loved their idols too! I am told of a 
dying artist who had made many images and crucifixes, 
when approaching close to his death, the priest held a 
most beautiful crucifix before him, but he persistently 
turned away his face. Upon the priest's inquiring for 
the reason, the dying artist said, "This is the work of 
my own hands, and can bring me no consolation now." 
Note Ezek. 7 : 20 : "And they have turned the orna- 
ments of their jewels into pride, and have made of it the 
image of their abominations and idols. Therefore, I have 
made it an uncleanness to them." In Hab. 2:18-20: 
"What doth the graven thing avail? because the maker 
thereof hath graven it a molten and a false image; be- 
cause the forger thereof hath trusted in a thing of his 
own forging, to make dumb idols. Woe to him that 
saith to wood, Awake ; to the dumb stone. Arise : can it 
teach? Behold it is laid over with gold and silver and 
there is no spirit in the bowels thereof. But the Lord 
is in his holy temple : let all the earth keep silence before 
him." 

There is still a more dangerous idol worship. We 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 63 

are taught to worship the Father in spirit and in truth : 
anything or everything that we suffer to get between us 
and our God, or our duty to him, or that will hinder us 
from saying, "Not mine, but thy will, be done," is an 
idol in the fullest sense of the word. Listen to Paul 
(Rom. 1:23): "And they changed the glory of the in- 
corruptible God into the likeness of the image of a cor- 
ruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, 
and of creeping things." The same apostle says (i Cor. 
10:6, 7, 14, 15): "Now these things were done in a 
figure for us, that we should not covet evil things as 
they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters as some 
of them, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and 
drink and rose up to play. Wherefore, my dearly be- 
loved, flee from the service of idols. I speak as to wise 
men, judge ye yourselves what I say." In Col. 3 : 5 he 
says: "Mortify therefore, your members which are upon 
the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupis- 
cence and covetousness, which is the service of idols." 
In the third chapter of Esther, we read how Mordecai 
refused to bend his knee to Aman, although this im- 
periled both his life and the lives of all his brethren in 
the whole empire. It is apparent that Mordecai was not 
asked or expected to adore Aman or to give him divine 
worship, but simply to give him undue honor. This 
should teach us how careful we should be not to give 
undue honor to a person, place or thing. Whom you 
serve, his servants you are, whether vice, passion, vanity, 
person, wealth or God. 

There is still another evil effect of images when we 
are in their presence. They are to remind us of the 
presence of God, and in some instances it does, but where 
this is the case the reaction is worse than the stimulant. 
Leaving the images also applies to the person leaving 



54 CHRISTIANITY ; OR, 

the presence of God. We should always walk in the 
presence of God. Catholics are so frequently with their 
church and images as the vulgar in the presence of 
ladies. 

Furthermore it attacks faith. The instant we walk 
by sight we cease to walk by faith. Now these images 
are to represent the presence of God, or remind us of it. 
Faith leads us to see God everywhere, image or not. We 
never read of Christ going to an image to pray; on the 
contrary, he sought the most common places. "And 
rising very early in the morning, going out, he went 
into a desert place, and there he prayed'' (Mark i :35). 
When at Jerusalem, strange as it may seem, he often 
went to the Mount of Olives, instead of to the temple, to 
pray. Imagine Christ falling down before an image to 
pray to his Father ! 

Paul tells us that what is not of faith is sin. We 
must learn to walk by faith. Without faith it is impossi- 
ble to please God. James says faith without works is 
dead ; or, in other words, show your faith by works. He 
compares faith without works to a dead body. As a living 
body necessarily manifests life in the same proportion 
to which it possesses life, so faith necessarily manifests 
itself in the same proportion a man possesses it. In 
speaking of our adversary the devil, Peter says (i Pet. 
5:9): ''Whom resist strongly in your faith." Why all 
these warnings ? Paul says in Heb. 1 1 : i : "Now faith 
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things that appear not.*' Here it is again: images do 
appear, and are visible, and are not of faith. Thus was 
Eve seduced (Gen. 3:6): "And the woman saw that the 
tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful 
to behold, and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, 
and gave to her husband, who did eat.'* Don't you see 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 55 

that Eve failed in faith? The word of God said, If you 
eat, you shall die. But sight deceived her. "He that de- 
spiseth me and receives not my words, hath one that 
judges him; the word that I have spoken shall judge him 
in the last day'' (John 12 : 48). This is a remarkable pas- 
sage, when rightly viewed. For instance, if we treat our 
fellow-man unjust and unchristian, because he so treated 
us, are we not despising the law of God, or making our 
obedience to it depend upon circumstances? Will the 
father of a family whose wife and children are not kind 
and loving or dutiful to him, for that reason cease to pro- 
vide for them ; go to saloons, theaters and other places of 
amusement, in spite of the precept of our Lord to nourish 
and cherish his wife, in spite of Paul's charge: "But 
if any man have not care of his own, and especially of 
his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than 
an infidel*' (i Tim. 5:8). Our neighbor, our wife, our 
children, are not on trial as far as we individually are 
concerned, but ourselves are on trial whether the word 
of God and his precepts have an abiding-place in our 
hearts; whether we will be loyal in good and evil days; 
whether we love the law of God more than our lust and 
carnal desires. If we are on a journey to a given place, 
we must keep on going, by land or sea, over rough and 
hilly roads, just as we find them, with the wind and 
against the storms, if we ever expect to land at our 
goal. Too many Christians act as a traveler going the 
opposite way to that of his destination, because the road 
seemed better, regardless of where it was leading him. 
Or, as if a balky horse should say at the foot of a hill, I 
will pull when the road leads downhill again, but refuse 
to pull uphill. The same can be said of wives, children 
or all who shirk their Christian duty, on account of in- 
cidents, or a second party. A second party should have 



66 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

absolutely nothing to do with us ; so far as we are indi- 
vidually concerned, we must all make good for ourselves 
and do justly toward our brethren, whether they act right 
or not. Christ, our Lord, became obedient to the death 
on the cross, and do we followers of the Christ desire 
to be absolved from his divine precept on the slightest 
pretext? Frequently when I read those sacred pages, I 
feel ashamed to acknowledge being a professing Chris- 
tian, when I note how much my conduct is lacking in 
conformity to God's holy law. Neither can I see how 
Christians can read those sacred pages written by the 
holy prophets and apostles of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, without emotion or tears. Kind reader, 
spend the time you waste on images amongst the needy 
and with the prophets and apostles of our Lord in search- 
ing his holy precepts, and you will shortly become a 
trained warrior of Christ. 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 57 



CHAPTER IX. 

To Priests and Prelates. 

We read in Malachi 2 of the threat of Gk>d to curse 
the blessing of the priests for their arrogance, pride and 
presumption, for having departed from the law of God. 
In verse 10 he says: "Have we not all one Father? 
Hath not God created us ? Why then doth every one of 
us despise his brother, violating the commandment of 
our fathers?" "His priests have polluted the sanctuary, 
they have acted unjustly against the law" (Soph. 3:4). 
"His princes have judged for bribes and his priests have 
taught for hire, and his prophets divined for money" 
(Mic. 3:11). This last passage is peculiarly applicable 
to the prelates of the Latin creed. You will, wherever 
possible, be both judge, priest and prophet, and reject all 
else. You expound the Scripture, the law of God, to 
your own mind; deny the right to differ, and without 
charity or mercy condemn all who do not assent to or 
submit to your decisions. "His priests have despised 
my law" (Ezek. 22:26), The same prophet (7:26) 
says: "The law shall perish from the priest and counsel 
from the ancient." And in Lam. 4:13, 14: 'Tor the 
«ins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that 
have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. They 
have wandered as blind men in the streets, they were 
defiled with blood, and when they could not help walking 
in it they held up their skirts." In Jer. 6: 13 : "For from 
the least of them, even to the greatest, all are given to 
covetousness, and from the prophet to the priest, all are 
guilty of deceit." Now the point I wish to make here is, 
we see how people who blindly followed the priests or 



58 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

pretended prophets were ever misled, but they who ad- 
hered to tne Lord, justice, charity, and judged the priest 
or prophet by their fruits or works, were ahead. And 
in spite of all these sad experiences and warnings, the 
prophets and priests again misled the people when 
Christ the Messiah appeared. Those priests did as the 
Catholic popes and prelates do to-day. They say they 
know the Scripture; it is their part to decide and com- 
mand; it is the people's part to submit and obey. They 
could point to Deut. 17:8-13 more confidently than you 
can point to Matt. 23 : 2, 3. Don't you see a carnal man 
can not understand a spiritual law, and that the people 
who were a law to themselves did not depend on Wind 
leaders, but followed God's Scripture as they understood 
it? And reason teaches they were ever the ones who 
were on the safe way to life. Why do you take the 
Bread of Life, the word of God, the Scriptures, from 
the people? You may say you are not opposed to the 
Catholic Bible ; well, what did the Council of Trent con- 
clude concerning the reading of the Bible ? What about 
Protestant Bibles in a book by Rev. M. Phillips, "Ques- 
tions Asked by Protestants Briefly Answered"? You 
say Catholics are forbidden to read a Bible contain- 
ing error (this, of course, refers to Protestant Bibles; 
I know what you taught me concerning Bibles from my 
infancy) ; when you say this you have deliberately lied. 
You have time and again burned Protestant Bibles, but 
have you in one instance replaced those destroyed by a 
more correct version of the Bible? Were you zealous 
to distribute the correct version as you call it, so people 
could have the better Bible? The same author (referred 
to above) goes on to say that Protestants can not be cer- 
tain to have the correct Bible, as they were not present 
when the original copies were gathered, and it is impose- 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 59 

sible now to find all the original copies. Now, right here 
you give evidence against yourself. How careless you 
were in preserving those sacred documents! I would 
also like to ask that reverend gentleman if he was present 
when those copies were collected, or if any of his an- 
cestors were? Also, if he thinks they could hand down 
the correct word of God, verbally or through tradition, 
if they can not be certain about the written Word? To 
the question, "Who explained the Bible to the Jews in 
the Old Testament?'' he says, the high priests and the 
Sanhedrin (which was a council), and points to Deut 
17:8 for their authority. Now, the very sad fate of 
those people should inspire him or any one to seek a 
better leader. Why does he not point to Annas and 
Caiaphas, and the council that condemned Christ, and 
later Stephen and the apostles, and also assert the cor- 
rectness of their decisions? If this is your proof for 
your position, well and good; you have followed their 
example well! 

This author says in every Catholic home is found 
either an extract of the Bible, the Bible itself or a prayer- 
book, taken from the Bible. Here is another instance of 
your dodge questions. There is not honesty enough in 
you to openly state the position you take regarding the 
Bible. You know the Bible is in few homes of Catholics, 
and they are only allowed to read and construe it as 
you dictate. If it were a letter of your father's, or his 
testament, bequeathing you an inheritance, and the civil 
courts or some of your brothers would treat you thus, 
would you be satisfied? Yet you expect us to be willing 
to gamble our eternity, our God, and our all on such rot 
misrepresentation and lies. 

Why this great opposition to Martin Luther? Not 
because of what he was, but because of what he accom- 



60 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

plished. Just as with John the Baptist: he could preach 
in the desert so long as he interfered not with Herod 
and his wicked, unlawful wife. So with Christ: as soon 
as the scribes and high priests saw their honor, source 
of revenue and authority was being undermined, they 
sought to destroy Christ. Not because of what he was, 
but because of what he was accomplishing. So also with 
the Protestant Bible: the hostility is not because it is 
not a scholarly work of translation, but because you can 
not control it. I was a church-goer in a Catholic Church 
for more than forty years, and I can not remember of 
ever seeing a Bible of any kind in any Catholic Church. 
When I was fourteen years of age, I spent ten months 
at a scholasticate where young boys are prepared for the 
priesthood (an immense institution), where every meal- 
time, while we ate, the better scholars had to take turns 
in reading. The subject invariably was the missions, 
their chapels, letters of missionaries which had been 
printed, and so forth; but I never heard them read the 
Scriptures or letters of the apostles of our Lord. Neither 
do I remember of seeing a Bible while at that institution. 
But I did see a large library full of story-books, some 
containing the most notorious lies. In most cases the 
author never attempted to tell the truth. It is easy 
to see that the error is not the trouble in the Prot- 
estant Bible : the trouble is you can not control the Prot- 
estant Bible, and your sectarian creed will not stand 
investigation. Paul was not afraid. He said, "Prove 
all things; hold that which is good.'' Peter says the 
word of prophecy is a light shining in a dark place, and 
Christ says the darkness hateth the light. Here is the 
key to the whole situation. Your sectarian rot can not 
stand the searchlight of Holy Scripture. You, moreover, 
tell us that in a great council, held at Carthage, A. D. 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 61 

397, you found spurious Gospels of Peter, James and 
Matthew, and you separated the chaff from the wheat; 
but tradition has it that those spurious Gospels were in- 
compatible with the spirit of sectarianism, and were too 
hard to be explained away by the ruling class, both secu- 
lar and clerical, and were therefore rejected. Catholics 
have come so far, in many instances, in denouncing the 
Scriptures, that all the Bible is dangerous but for a few 
who desire to rule and dominate. When you judge the 
Catholics unfitted to read the Bible, as per 2 Pet. 3: 
16, you give evidence against yourself ; for after having 
taught them these centuries, you adjudge them unstable 
and ignorant, for Peter spoke of those only. Paul judged 
his readers capable of his epistles; so did Peter, James 
and John. What are you making of yourself? Peter, 
moreover, warns us, saying: "You, therefore, brethren, 
knowing these things before, beware lest being led astray 
by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own stead- 
fastness.'' I read in the Catholic Bible (Eccles. 39: i) : 
^'The wise man will seek out the wisdom of all the 
ancients, and will be occupied in the prophets." Who 
are the unwise ? They who are occupied in the prophets, 
or they who prefer to be occupied in Catholic stories 
or novels? The latter could learn a wholesome lesson 
from the prodigal son. Moreover, you claim to have 
the only creed that has not changed Christ's ordinances. 
Well? You changed baptism, the Last Supper, Sunday 
worship till they have lost most all their significance. 
You changed the office of the bishop in the face of 
Paul's charge (i Tim. 3:2) : "It behooveth, therefore, a 
bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife;" you 
introduced the mass as a sacrifice in the face of Heb, 
10:26: "There is now left no sacrifice for sin." The 
chief form of primitive worship consisted in reading the 



62 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

Scriptures, prayer, exhortations, partaking of the bread 
and wine, and singing the praise of the Lord. Instead 
of this you gave us a dollar sacrifice. The dollar is not 
a charge: it must be given as an offering, in a sort of 
roundabout, boot-legging way, so as not to desecrate 
the mass. Also, you have priests arrayed in costly vest- 
ments, officiating in costly churches, at expensive altars, 
to represent Christ — ^born in a stable, reared in a humble 
home and wearing a seamless garment. But this is not 
all : You gave us holy water, medals, scapulars, indul- 
gences and a host of other hair-splitting superstitions out 
of harmony with Scripture and the simplicity of the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. Your councils and popes come 
and condemn all as heretics, and hurl anathemas at all 
who do not accept the whole dose of your adulterated 
creed. We read (Mai. 2:2) that the Lord threatened 
to curse the blessings of the priests, and I rest assured 
he will also bless the anathemas of these pretenders who 
do as Isa. 59:4 says: 'There is none that calleth upon 
justice; neither is there any one that judges truly, but 
they trust in a mere nothing, and speak vanities. They 
have conceived vanities and brought forth iniquity.'* 
Well has Isaiah prophesied of you (3: 12) : **They that 
call thee, Blessed, the same deceived thee." Also in 24: 
5 : "Because they have transgressed the law, they have 
changed the ordinances ; they have broken the everlasting 
covenant.'' And Isa. 8: 12, 13: "Say not a conspiracy; 
for all that this people speaks is a conspiracy; neither 
fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of 
hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be 
your dread." But you would have us fear you. Was 
not I myself threatened by you (and I know of others) 
simply because I did not give my sanction to some of 
your schemes? A friend of mine who was present urged 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 63 

me persistently to yield, as he said you could put a curse 
on me, so I might die and leave my children orphans. 
You rule wherever you can intimidate people. I also 
know where you abused the confessional to gain selfish 
and political ends. If you can not force your dogmas 
and adulterations on your followers, you will disgrace 
them, refuse the sacraments and Christian burial, etc. 
You are truly they of whom Micah (3:5) prophesied: 
"Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets that make 
my people err; they bite with their teeth, and preach 
peace, and if a man give not something into their mouth, 
they prepare war against him.'' You can absolve a 
drunkard, or a murderer, or an adulterer, but if I do not 
repudiate all other creeds, except the doctrine of your 
clergy and pope, and do not believe that you can forgive 
sins (a right the apostles never assumed), no matter 
what my other conduct is, I can not be absolved by you. 
I may take my children to theaters, dances or saloons, 
of course, on condition of proper conduct; but I may 
not under any circumstances take them to a Sunday- 
school where Christians teach the word of God, and sing 
his praise in a Protestant church. I am, rather, to go to 
no church at all, if I do not go to a Catholic Church. 
Now that I am a member of the Christian Church, I can 
not, with your consent, take my family with me to church 
as long as you can intimidate them. They must dis- 
obey me or you. You will not give my children per- 
mission to honor their father's judgment. Don't imagine 
for an instant that I am ignorant of your tactics. I have 
made this a chief study for many years, and know very 
well your method of misrepresenting things and giving 
evasive answers; only upon severe cross-examination 
could I get a direct answer from you, and not until you 
had exhausted every avenue of escape. The first answer 



64 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

you gave, in every case, would be, *'You are on a bad, 
dangerous road ; you have been stuffed by Protestants, or 
have read bad or forbidden books/' Only upon insisting 
that this was not the issue and demanding a **Yes*' and 
*'No" answer could I get a direct admittal that I was 
correct in my statements. I confess and admit that I 
have lost all confidence and respect for you as a class. I 
know there are some good and sincere prelates among 
you, with whom I sympathize very much, as well as 
with the honest laity. It is for the benefit of these I 
write this book. But for the hypocrite and deceitful, 
there is no remedy. The history of our Lx)rd should con- 
vince everybody of this fact. 

But to return to my former subject: you say twelve 
apostles preached the gospel and only four wrote Gros- 
pels, and as few wrote epistles. Where are the teachings 
of the other apostles ? Well, take, for instance, the courts 
of justice. They impanel a jury of twelve men. This 
jury agrees upon a verdict. One juror writes the verdict 
and presents it to the court. No one will ask for the 
verdict of the other eleven after the verdict is acknowl- 
edged. So why should the other apostles write or re- 
write what was already written? They knew it was 
sufficient, as the apostles were evidently acquainted with 
all the writings, as is evident from 2 Pet. 3: 15, 16: "As 
also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom 
given him, hath written to you. As also in all his epistles 
speaking in them of these things.'' Mark the words : In 
all his epistles. And Paul was probably unknown by 
face to most of the apostles, but they knew all his epis- 
tles. How can we suppose that they were not acquainted 
with the writings of those apostles with whom they were 
constantly associating? Again, in our courts of justice 
no biased or impartial juror is allowed to sit on any case. 



WHY I BECAME A N ON -SECTARIAN 65 

But you will adjudge everything by the most sectarian 
prejudice. You will not admit an impartial juror to your 
courts. You verily imitate Annas and Caiaphas, who, 
after Pilate had declared Christ innocent, and they could 
bring no other evidence, claimed, "We have a law, and 
by that law he ought to die." 

Take another illustration from the courts in regard 
to a will, or testament, or any contract. Suppose it gets 
mutilated, or a part gets lost, and a controversy arises. 
The remainder of said original document is always the 
basis of litigation, and no verbal evidence is accepted that 
contradicts the written document. In many places courts 
will not honor a verbal or traditional argument at all. 
You ask us to set aside the written Word and take tra- 
dition. Now, I believe that any man who will not judge 
justly and consistently in worldly matters will not in 
spiritual matters. The woe our Lord pronounced against 
the lawyers for taking away the key of knowledge is for 
all who pervert right judgment. The Holy Bible is the 
key of knowledge, and your hostility to it is because 
people do understand it. Thus the scribes and Phari- 
sees rejected and cast out of the synagogue those who 
folk)wed our Lord, not because they did not understand 
him, but because the followers of the Lord became too 
wise, and made it impossible for them to misinterpret the 
meaning of the law. Here you may refer us again to 
Matt. 28 : 18-20 ; John 20 : 21-23. Very well ! The apos- 
tles made good ! They healed the sick, cast out demons 
and raised the dead to life, and they imparted the Holy 
Ghost through the laying on of hands ; they spake with 
divers tongues and prophesied. Now I will point you 
to John 8 : 39 : "They answered and said to him, Abra- 
ham is our father. Jesus said to them. If ye be the 
children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham." If 



66 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

you are the successors and representatives of Christ and 
the apostles, do the works of Christ and the apostles, 
"He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to 
walk even as he walked" (i John 2:6). In i Peter 5 
we read that elders or bishops were to take care of or 
feed the flock, not as domineering the clergy, but as a 
pattern of the flock. What must we think of you when 
we study these sacred writings, and compare them to the 
teachings of sectarian prelates, who spend fabulous sums 
on cathedrals, churches, parsonages, vestments, images 
and a host of useless superstitions and vanities, while 
thousands are starving in Russia, India, China and else- 
where? Such conduct as this must have inspired the 
passage in Wisdom 13:1: "But all men are vain in whom 
is not the knowledge of God." 

If Paul could say, "I am nothing," and Peter could 
say, "I also am a man," whence your great arrogance? 
If Peter had the keys of heaven, as you teach, where or 
when did he open to Paul, or when did he close the 
kingdom? He in reality opened Christ's kingdom on 
the day of Pentecost when he preached the first sermon 
under the gospel dispensation, as per Acts 2 : 14-42. But 
further, I fail to find another act as refers to his "keys," 
or as to his having transferred them to another. If our 
prelates were chosen as per Acts 6, i Timothy 3 and 
Titus, chapters i and 2, we would not see so much of 
vanity, scandal and God-dishonoring Christianity. 

Kind reader, please take notice how soon this book 
will be anathematized ; but I say to priests and prelates, 
Know you this, that I neither regard your anathemas nor 
blessings; the Lord shall be my Helper. You have 
burnt at the stake those who have protested against your 
corruption long before Martin Luther was born, and 
you may do it again. But truth, crushed to earth, will 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 67 

rise again. The consecration is not made with hands, 
but is of the Spirit. Christ was not ordained priest or 
king by hands of men ; neither are the saints of God or- 
dained by men, but by the Spirit. Do not be deceived 
with visible things. They all perish, but we look for the 
new that abides forever. As to your creed or party 
dating back to the apostolic times it is quite true in 3 
John 9 and 10 he wrote of you, but it was then governed 
by Diotrephes. Do not imagine for one moment that your 
popes and councils can change God's ordinances any more 
than you can change the course of the sun or moon. 



68 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 



CHAPTER X. 

The Situation Discussed. 

Time and again I have been asked why it is that 
the things of which I have written have not been dis- 
covered before by the scholars of the Catholic Church? 
I disclaim the honor of discovering these truths, as 
there were thousands upon thousands who preceded me 
and understood these things; but, however, I will an- 
swer the question by asking another. Why was it that 
when Christ was born in Bethlehem, a good-sized town, 
crowded to overflowing, did none find and recognize 
him but a few shepherds who were neither rich nor 
learned in a worldly sense? Also, when Jesus was pre- 
sented in the temple, why did none but Simon and Anna 
recognize him, about whom we know nothing but that 
Simon was just and Anna was a virgin, then a wife, 
then a widow? Does this imply that other men were 
not just, or that other women had not been virgins, 
wives or widows of correct deportment? This seems 
impossible to me. Further, how was it that the three 
kings, or wise men, from the East, came a long journey 
of many days, through Jerusalem and on to Bethlehem, 
and there found our Lord and worshiped him? Jeru- 
salem was full of scribes, Pharisees, priests and also 
the high priest, all within a few hours' walk of where 
Christ lay in a manger, and they found him not. Neither 
would they recognize him afterwards, when they saw 
his mighty works. Don't ask me to believe that those 
three wise men, or kings, did not have the Scriptures and 
were not conversant with the prophets. They most cer- 
tainly were looking for the salvation of Israel which 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 69 

should be unto all the people. They had prepared for 
his coming and had noted every indication thereof. 

It is quite clear from what has been said that we 
must look ever to Jesus as the Author and Finisher of 
our faith. If we begin to copy after others we generally 
fall into their errors. In i John 2:1 we read that **we 
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just." 
John includes himself and all the other apostles. In an- 
other place in the Scriptures we read of **one mediator;" 
then there can be no other mediator. Paul, after speak- 
ing of the remission of sins, and of the priesthood of 
Christ, also says, *'Let us draw near with a true heart," 
etc. Our mission is the same as that of the apostles — ^to 
lead our brethren to Christ, not to creed. 

We should learn a wholesome lesson from the reply 
Jesus gave to Joseph and Mary after they had sought 
him sorrowing among their friends and kinsfolk: "Did 
you not know that I must be about the things that are 
my Father's?" or, as the American Standard Version 
puts it, "In my Father's house" (Luke 2:44-49). All 
signified in his Father's realm. All who seek peace, rest 
and Christ's salvation among their friends and relatives 
(which also signifies the flesh, its friends and affinities), 
indeed seek him sorrowing. Wherefore, Christ's answer 
is to all such : "Why seek ye me here, there, or yonder ? 
Know you not my kingdom is not of this world? Know 
you not where to seek me?" Or rather, "Seek me in the 
spiritual realm, for my Father is a Spirit." But some 
say. How can we know the spiritual? In Galatians 5 
Paul describes the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of 
the Spirit. If you would bring forth the fruits of the 
Spirit, you must assuredly walk in the Spirit. "By their 
fruits you shall know them." 

All creeds agree that a Christian is a soldier of Christ 



70 CHRISTIANITY ; OR, 

or of his cross. Now, a soldier must be faithful, must en- 
dure sieges and hardships, before he can wear the laurels 
of a hero. Every adversity that befell Washington, and 
every difficulty he surmounted, added honor to him, and 
showed forth what stuff he was made of. Had he run 
at the sight of a superior enemy, or at the first appear- 
ance of powder-smoke, he would be no hero to-day. Can 
we weigh a soldier of the cross in a different balance? 
God promised the reward to overcomers : those who over- 
came the world, the flesh and the devil. I honestly be- 
lieve that temptations come to every soldier of Christ. 
True Christians will frequently admit of having been 
tempted to the very verge of despair, as was the patri- 
arch Job. Abraham was asked to cast out his first- 
born son, whom he loved; then he was asked to sacri- 
fice his only remaining son, and he yielded immediately. 
And the Scripture saith, after he had endured — he was 
first required to endure — he was greatly blessed of God. 
Abraham is our figurative father ; that is, of the children 
of promise, or of the faithful. Jesus says to all: "If 
ye be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abra- 
ham." Now, Abraham had to first cast out Ishmael, 
his first-born son, whom he loved, and disinherit him. 
So we must cast out our first-born — the flesh — and dis- 
inherit it of all unlawful desires and lust. Jesus said: 
"Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God. . . . Unless a man be born again, of water 
and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God'' (John 3:3, 5). This second or regenerated son, 
the regenerated Christian, we must ever be willing to 
lay on the altar of Jehovah, to serve his good pleasure, 
even unto death, as our reward or deliverance is also of 
promise. In this we may imitate Abraham, and do honor 
and sacrifice to God. This will be meritorious and pleas- 



WHY I BECAME A N ON -SECTARIAN 71 

ing in the sight of God. Imagine yourself receiving a 
gift from a friend who would grouch and complain how 
hard it was and how much effort it cost him to make 
the gift. Would you relish the gift? I fear not! A 
lesser gift, given with delight, bespeaking the desires 
of the giver to give, is the most appreciated one to be 
received. Think of a servant in the house that was 
promised good wages upon doing a certain amount of 
work, but who was ever busy with amusements or some 
other fad, and would grouch every time attention was 
called to his or her work. Would the householder be 
pleased? I fear not! Such Christians imitate the Jews 
who would offer the lame, the blind, the feeble, spoken 
of in Mai. i : 8. 

Again, let one of us, who call ourselves Christians, 
fall heir to thousands of dollars unexpectedly. Wh^e 
are our first thoughts? To aid the poor, starving sick, 
or furnish means to spread the gospel of Christ? Or is 
it all centered on vanity, excursions, theaters, amusement, 
or perhaps poodle-dogs? Know ye that the Holy Ghost 
does not say in vain : ** Where your heart is, there is your 
treasure also.'' Your heart is always where your spare 
moments are. Every-day life brings much we do not 
like. Our earnings go to support those depending upon 
us. But the spare moments, the surplus money, decides 
our heart's affections. How can Christians of to-day 
say that they love the Lord their God with their whole 
heart, soul and strength, and not deceive themselves, un- 
less they be living holy lives? We deceive ourselves 
more frequently than we are deceived by others. James, 
no doubt, had such selfish Christians in mind when 
he said: "You ask and receive not, because you ask 
amiss, that you may consume it on your concupiscences" 
( Jas. 4:3). That is, on our vanity, self -gratification, etc. 



n CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

When we serve the Lord with all the heart, it is with 
delight. Consider it a privilege to serve him, and as 
the apostle says, "G^unt it all joy to suffer for so great 
and good a Master." Then we offer the firstfruits to 
God, the clean oblation of which we read (Mai. i : ii) : 
"For from the rising of the sun to the going down, my 
name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place 
there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean 
oblation.'* Note the words **every place." Not at Jeru- 
salem alone, or in every church, but in every place 
This speaks well, in so far as there must be true adorers 
in every place. Are we of the number? We hear so 
much complaint, and frequently among Catholics of all 
classes, of their difficult station in life. Their vocation 
is so hard ; their duties so grievous ; but, my friend, you 
have made it so yourself. Listen to Wisdom 5:6, 7 : 
"Therefore, we have erred from the way of truth, and 
the light of justice hath not shined upon us. We wearied 
ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and 
have walked through hard ways, but the way of the 
Lord we have not known." Know ye not the command- 
ments of the Lord are not grievous? Peter says the 
Lord is sweet. Listen to the wise man (Prov. 18:20) : 
"He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise. A friend 
of fools shall become like to them." Just preceding 
this verse he says, "Fools hate them that flee from evil 
things." The Holy Ghost does not teach these things 
without cause or purpose. 

Kind reader, will you not lay aside all prejudice and 
malice, just long enough to give this your impartial at- 
tention? And don't make the mistake I did, and say, 
"I would give $50 or $100 to have Peter's opinion, or 
Paul's opinion, on nowadays Christianity or sectarian- 
ism," while the words of Paul were ringing in my very 



WHY I BECAME A N ON -SECTARIAN 73 

ears. Judge yourselves as to whether the Lord Jesus 
dwells in you. All I or any other man can do is to point 
you to Christ, but it is for each individual to make good 
or not. 

To Catholics. 

My dear Catholic brethren, if you do not see your 
way clear to abandon sectarianism, labor to better your 
creed. Be earnest, true and strong in the faith. I can 
readily sympathize with you, as nothing in this world 
ever caused me so much anxiety and worry as this very 
thing. I consider it the greatest achievement of my life 
to have gotten rid of sectarianism. Do not imagine for 
a moment that I am condemning you. (God reads your 
hearts.) 

In my doubts as to the validity of a substitute baptism, 
I asked an old Baptist minister, whom I respected "Siery 
much for his straightforward character, his truthfulness 
and impartial zeal, and who had been a minister for 
over fifty years, and was now nearly eighty years old. I 
said: *'You certainly don't mean to say that all Chris- 
tians will be lost who were not baptized as the first 
Christians were?" He said: "No, I don't mean to say 
that. But why should we take chances or experiment 
with a substitute and not rather, out of obedience to 
Jesus Christ, submit to the baptism he submitted to and 
the baptism he instituted?" This still strengthened the 
views I had held for many years. The Scripture says: 
'If such are guilty of death that do things worthy of 
death; they are not less so who consent to them that do 
them/' So I was compelled, for conscience' sake, prin- 
ciple, justice, truth and honesty, to abandon the Catholic 
creed, in so far as it is sectarian, and thus show the world 
my faith by my works. 



74 CHRISTIANITY ; OR, 

Upon the request of the minister who baptized me by 
immersion, and also by numerous friends, who have 
asked for the reason of my action, I have written this 
work. But know ye for certain, that to repudiate our 
Christian brethren in different creeds is sin. I never 
heard an unkind word about CathoHcs from Protestant 
pulpits, but I did hear some of the most ridiculous slan- 
ders and misstatements from Catholic pulpits against our 
Protestant brethren. Faith that worketh by charity only 
availeth in Christ; but I hear some say, "I am perfectly 
willing to disavow sectarianism just as soon as the coun- 
cil and the Pope shall decree so." Well, you will fare 
just as well as the Jews, who would wait till the council 
and the high priest acknowledged Christ the Messiah be- 
fore they would accept him, and as soon as the priests 
demanded his death, clamored for his crucifixion. Don't 
think for a moment that any corrupt organization will 
yield to justice as long as there is good money and honor 
going with it. There are always others who are willing 
to take the places becoming vacant. 

You say the Catholic Church is a divine institution, 
and your prelates will point you to John 20:21-23: 
**As the Father sent me, I also send you.'' But Jesus 
said nothing of successors. Also in Luke 10: 16: "He 
that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despises you 
despises me, and he that despises me despises him that 
sent me." We again notice that Christ speaks not of 
successors here. But in the same chapter, when Christ 
was asked, ''What must I do to possess eternal life?" he 
answered (v. 26), ''What is written in the law? How 
readest thou?" God is not changeable. He established 
the law of Moses by the greatest of signs and wonders. 
When Christ came he did great signs and wonders, and 
so did the apostles, as they preached the gospel. After 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 75 

the attention of the people had been attracted by the 
miracles, the apostles, whom our Lord commanded us 
to obey, gave us the new law. If we disobey it, we re- 
ject Christ and his apostles. Modern popes and councils 
are impostors of the highest order. Christ rebuked the 
Jews for making changes in God's law, although appar- 
ently sanctioned by Moses (Matt. 19:8, 9). We Chris- 
tians are not under the law of Moses, so to speak, but 
under the gospel. Loyalty to Christ calls the willing 
and obedient, and such as do his will with pleasure and 
delight, so as to please him, and become more like 
him, and come to despise worldly opinion and comment. 
James says we come under the law of liberty ( i : 25 ; 2 : 
12). Paul says: "Now the Lord is a spirit, and where 
the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty'' (2 Cor. 3: 17). 
If this were well understood, we could easily see why 
no fornicator, adulterer or covetous person, or any ma- 
licious one, can enter heaven. They would abuse this 
liberty just the same as our criminals abuse their liberty 
and are imprisoned. Christ is calling the willing, they 
who yield a royal obedience, and these he calls sons of 
God and his brethren. He will deal with the rest of the 
world later. A slave will obey, if he must; so will a 
mule. The very fact that your clergy is afraid to let you 
study the Scriptures and form your own judgment, when 
the apostles were not afraid, should convince you that 
they have a bad case that will not stand investigation. I 
could write volumes on this subject; but a word to the 
wise should be sufficient. Moreover, do not do as many 
Catholics whom I know, who, after being convinced of 
the deceit of their creed, would not go to any church 
whatever. The reason is not hard to find. They are 
too much prejudiced against other creeds, which have 
been misrepresented to them from their childhood. Some 



76 CHRISTIANITY; OR, 

have confessed to me their lack of faith, either in creed 
or Christianity. They said, "If this is Christianity, it 
is a failure/' They say that the church has become one 
of the largest trust or monopolies in the world. Upon 
asking the question, *'Why, then, do you go to church 
and play the hypocrite?" one answered, *'My wife would 
worry and bawl about it; and say that I disgraced the 
family, and hindered the chances of the children to a 
good marriage." Another said, "I am in business, and 
if I would commit myself, it would ruin my business." 
Another gave another excuse, and if the curtain was 
lifted on Catholicity, how you would be astonished. Lis- 
ten to Paul: '*Not forsaking our assembly as some are 
accustomed, but comforting one another, and so much 
the more as you see the day approaching" (Heb. lo: 
25). Beware that you be none of those of whom Jude 
speaks : ''These are they who separate themselves, sensual 
men having not the Spirit." But be ye rather among 
those spoken of in Acts 2 : 42 : "And they were perse- 
vering in the doctrine of the apostles and in the com- 
munication of the breaking of bread and in prayer." 

The original sense of the word church always signi- 
fied a congregation of the faithful or Christians of a 
certain place, as you may see by turning to Apocalypse 
or Rev. 1:4: "J^hn to the seven churches which are in 
Asia." But your priests will ever tell you there is but 
one church, which you must hear. Ask them, "What is 
that church ?" and the answer invariably is, "The bishops 
and the priests." Now, I request all my dear readers, par- 
ticularly those having conscientious scruples, who find 
much difficulty in serving the Lord, from much trouble, 
to read the book, "The Christian's Secret of a Happy 
Life," for sale by Fleming H. Revell Co., 125 N. Wabash 
Ave., Chicago, 111. The price, single copies, is seventy- 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 77 

five cents. This book came to my notice as I was writing 
these chapters. It is non-sectarian, to all Christians, and 
is the most remarkable book of the kind I ever saw. 

Do not imagine that I have a good education. I was 
scarcely fifteen years of age (approximately, a sixth or 
seventh grade pupil) when I left school, and I have lived 
on a farm ever since. Not those who write the most 
scholarly books, or speak the most eloquent sermons, but 
they who live the best sermons, excel. We all have an 
equal opportunity in this, and all can be missionary in 
our living. Search ye the Scriptures, is my advice to 
many Catholics, who know nothing but what their priests 
tell them, and if they be excommunicated they are hope- 
lessly adrift, and are at the mercy of their clergy. But 
it is not so with such as know the Scriptures. These are 
able to ride the highest billows of a storm-tossed sea, 
and can say with Paul, "Nothing can separate us from 
Christ, neither height, nor depth, nor any other creature,*' 
but whatever you do concerning your creed or church, 
do nothing unless it be to obey the ordinances of God 
more perfectly and be of more service to the gospel of 
Jesus Christ and to your fellow-brethren. 

To Protestants. 

I wish to speak a word to my Protestant brethren, as 
I owe very much to some of you. I was raised within 
the most closely drawn sectarian lines I know of. But 
your kind and liberal spirit, your faith, truthfulness and 
sincerity in the gospel, as well as your charity toward us 
overbearing and self-righteous Catholics, has taught me, 
to a great extent, how wicked, sinful and inconsistent 
sectarianism is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But there 
are also some sectarians amongst you such as protest 
more than they practice; this ought not to be; such 



78 CHRISTIANITY ; OR, 

hinde^r the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why not let the 
Scripture speak and let Christ be the Judge? We, of 
course, all want a unity of faith, but we all want our 
own way too much. We can never unite on sectarianism. 
Union must come on the teachings of Christ and his 
apostles or it will never be realized. Don't make the 
mistake so many have of trying to establish the kingdom 
on earth, as did the Catholics, by trying to subject the 
world to the pope. All their iron rule and coercion has 
been in vain. Christ sent his disciples to preach and 
teach, and the apostles who wrote urged their readers to 
wait patiently unto the coming of the Lord. It is a 
most important precept or some would have omitted it, 
but every apostle repeated it, in spite of its being written 
by others. If we were to establish his kingdom rather 
than to proclaim its coming, and prepare for it, why do 
all the apostles exhort us to wait for his coming? It 
is evident that patient waiting is required. 

I know you are far better instructed in the Scrip- 
tures than are Catholics, hence a greater responsibility 
lies upon you to show your faith by works. I am fre- 
quently asked by Protestants why Catholics do so and 
so, or why they don't do so and so? I simply reply, 
If you were taught from your infancy as we Catholics 
were taught, you would not wonder. Bear in mind 
always 2 Tim. 2 : 24-26, and practice it. 

For the circulation of this book I must depend almost 
exclusively upon you, as this book will most certainly be 
forbidden to be read by Catholics, as soon as the clergy 
get hold of it. The reason is obvious: If your Bibles, 
which did in nowise attack the Catholics, but simply 
reflected the gospel light on the dark places, found a way 
to the flames, don't be surprised if this work finds its 
way there frequently. Catholics are hard to reach, be- 



WHY I BECAME A NON-SECTARIAN 79 

cause a book of this sort is straightway forbidden, and 
if one persists in reading it, he may be immediately ex- 
communicated. As a rule. Catholics are so prejudiced 
against the Protestants and so misinformed concerning 
their belief, that he dreads them more than infidelity. So 
he is between the devil and the deep sea, as the saying 
goes ! 

Finally, I will request the publisher to give this book 
to the public as cheaply as possible, and any revenue de- 
rived from the sale of the book, above the publisher's 
price, shall go to the missions and needy, both at home 
and abroad. Under no circumstances shall any proceeds 
be applied to myself or family. May this message be of 
honor to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the means of 
preparing many for his coming, for which we are hoping 
and longing. 

Note. — I find that some names are lettered different 
in the Protestant Bible than they are in the Catholic 
Bible. First and Second Kings are called First and 
Second Samuel; consequently Third and Fourth Kings 
are called First and Second Kings. Esdres is called Ezra. 
The following books are missing in the Protestant Bibles, 
having been rejected as non-edifying: Tobias, Judith, 
Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch. Osse is called Hosea; 
Obedias is spelled Obadias; Micheas is written Micah, 
and some other differences in names appear. Also First 
and Second Machabees is missing. The New Testament 
is the same, and there is scarcely any difference in the 
translations. Either Bible contains sufficient for the 
earnest, faithful student. The Author. 



JUN 20 1913 



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